Feelings on Fire
by sultrysweet
Summary: Emma constantly takes notice of Regina, but she's not the only one showing interest. / SQW Day 2: MILF
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: Tried to get this done sooner, but couldn't seem to write fast enough. This was supposed to be a oneshot, but I decided it'd be quicker to get this posted while the SQW mods were still checking for late submissions if I posted them as separate chapters. So this former single chapter fic turned into a five chapter fic. The rating might go up in the last chapter or two as well, but for now I'll just keep it at T.**

 **Thanks to hummingbirdswords and Shan for letting me talk through my many insecurities about this first chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Mornings with the Mills were typically loud. Emma hadn't needed her multiple phone alarms after five weeks of living in the Mifflin home. Living under the same roof as her teenaged son and his other mother was fine. It was what she'd wanted when she'd asked to move in and make joint custody a lot easier. But moving in with them also meant moving in with a difficult witch and her diva daughter. Emma either woke up to Henry's thunderous footsteps, Zelena's cackles or Robyn's tantrums. It happened around the same time every morning, give or take twenty minutes. That morning, however, the house was unusually quiet. A confused look at her phone as she slowly started to wake up revealed that it was already 9am. She'd slept in an additional two hours.

Emma frowned and sat up in bed while she ran a hand through her messy, tangled hair. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and picked at the crust in the corners before she took a deep breath and stretched. She went through her usual routine of brushing her teeth and deciding what, if anything, to do with her hair before she made her way downstairs and looked around like she expected some hell beast to pop out at her and prove she was in some weird alternate reality. Because any reality where Regina hadn't dragged the other three Mills out of bed at an early enough hour, if they hadn't done it themselves, was unbelievable.

Emma followed the smell of food and the sound of some utensil scrapping a pan into the kitchen and nearly fell to her knees when she saw the brunette.

Regina stood at the stove cooking French toast in nothing but a slightly oversized blue and white plaid shirt. The fabric looked soft like flannel and the hem stopped surprisingly low on the woman's body. It covered whatever underwear Regina might have been wearing, but exposed most of her legs. It looked like Regina didn't have to worry about showing her ass to company unless she needed to bend over and set something in the oven. Normally when Emma wore her own flannel shirts by themselves, she would flash someone if she moved even the slightest bit whether she meant to or not.

Emma didn't stop her eyes from wandering as they gazed at Regina's body from head to bare feet. Her mouth went dry when she stared at Regina's thighs from behind. She would have appreciated the sight from any angle, but her view from the entryway allowed her a teasing peek at Regina's ass. The flannel hugged the swell of round cheeks and hung loosely over the backs of Regina's thighs, which moved a moment later when the brunette shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

The movement was subtle and sensual as Regina's left knee glided forward toward the oven. If Emma had been in place of the kitchen appliance, she imagined the brunette's thigh would have effortlessly fit between her own legs. Her lips parted and her mouth went dry as soon as the thought, quickly followed by more thoughts of those same thighs wrapped around her waist and on either side of her head, came to mind.

When she pictured Regina shuddering around her head and fingers as Emma devoured the brunette like one of her beloved bearclaws, Emma licked her lips and sucked in a deep breath. She tried to replace the sudden fantasies with words, questions, a way to start a conversation so she could make Regina aware of her presence instead of just creepily staring at her from the entryway. It took a little longer than it should have, but Emma managed to clear her throat and take a step forward.

Regina looked over her shoulder after she finished flipping a slice of French toast and smiled at Emma. In response, Emma's body immediately flushed with warmth and left the younger woman hoping there wasn't a noticeable change of color in her cheeks or on her chest. "I thought you might like something with cinnamon this morning," Regina said in greeting. "If you ask me, I think your obsession with the spice is insane."

Emma smiled back at Regina and shrugged. "I've always been just a little insane."

"I've trained you so well," Regina replied while her smile grew.

Emma rolled her eyes, but her own smile never left her face. She walked further into the kitchen until she stood beside Regina at the stove and watched over the other woman's shoulder as Regina flipped another slice of toast.

"Is there a reason you're hovering," Regina asked a moment later when she slid the two browned slices onto a plate.

"Just thought I'd watch the master at work," Emma answered before she dropped her head so that her chin rested on Regina's shoulder.

It didn't take long before the brunette gently shrugged her off as she went to dip another slice of bread into the bowl of egg and cinnamon mix on the nearby counter space. Emma continued to watch Regina work and Regina didn't comment on Emma's blatant staring. At least the blonde was able to control herself long enough at that point to keep her eyes above the other woman's waist while she observed the rest of Regina's cooking.

"Want any bacon or sausage with breakfast," Regina asked while she piled two more slices of toast onto the others on the plate. A second later, both women answered, "Bacon" in unison. Regina smirked at Emma's shocked look and unnecessarily added, "I thought so."

"How?"

"You've never once picked sausage over bacon when given the choice. The only time you even eat sausage is when we're out of bacon."

"That's not true," Emma immediately argued. "Well, the part about bacon being my first choice is. But I'll eat whatever you put in front of me."

Images of Regina's thighs clamped around Emma's face replayed in her mind just then and the warmth Emma felt earlier spread much lower than her face. The reaction didn't go unnoticed either.

Regina furrowed her brow before her eyes quizzically inspected Emma from head to toe. When brown eyes met green again, Regina tipped her head to the side and absentmindedly pulled the empty pan off the burner. Her full attention was on Emma while the plate of French toast on the countertop started to cool. "What are you thinking?"

Emma's eyes bulged and her heart skipped a beat before the pace increased, but another lick of her lips allowed her the time to calmly respond. "That I'm starving and I don't think I can wait for the bacon to be finished before I inhale that French toast," she lied—at least partially, because she wasn't at all patient enough to wait for the bacon—and flashed Regina what she hoped was a _charming_ smile before she turned away from the older woman to grab herself a plate.

When she came back to the stove less than a minute later, Regina glided behind Emma as she moved away from the sink where she'd set the dirty dishes. Emma served herself three of the five slices of French toast and then handed Regina the plate the brunette had used to set them all aside. Their fingers brushed during the exchange and Emma smiled to herself as her body tingled from her breasts to her arms and down her spine. It was hardly the first time they'd touched, especially when doing something as basic as passing something to each other, but they were alone and Regina was dressed far beyond casual.

The brunette looked confident and comfortable in the flannel despite Emma never having seen her in it until that morning. She stared at Regina again, took in her bare legs and feet where the shirt stopped, looked a little closer at the way the sleeves were haphazardly rolled up between wrist and elbow.

And then she noted the previously overlooked tear under the right sleeve.

"Wait a minute." Emma set her plate down on the dining room table with a frown while she continued to focus on the hole along the underarm. "Are you wearing my shirt?"

"It was in the laundry."

"Yeah, _my_ laundry!"

"Which _I_ washed."

"You stole my shirt," Emma said with an arched brow, a little incredulous.

"Hardly. _You_ stole _my_ shirt."

"What? I did not. When? What shirt?"

"The blue silk shirt. _That_ was stealing. You took it without asking and didn't return it."

Emma frowned and thought about it for a moment as she tried to place when and how she supposedly stole a blue shirt.

"I hope you enjoyed it," Regina all but purred a moment later.

Only then did Emma's mind supply her with the answer she'd struggled to find as she remembered, _"Enjoy my shirt because that's all you're getting"_ while brown eyes sized her up from head to toe and back again. A blush threatened to creep up her sternum and color her cheeks, but a claim in her defense rose to the surface quicker. "I gave it back."

"You didn't," Regina firmly disagreed, but didn't sound at all upset about it.

"You've warn it a few times after I borrowed it, so I know I gave it back," Emma insisted.

Regina shook her head with a small, almost undetectable smile and replied, "I have a shirt just like it, but they aren't the same. That's the one you saw me wear."

"You're telling me you have a rack of blue silk shirts that all look the same?"

"Not a rack and not the same, just similar."

Emma rolled her eyes. "What's the difference?"

"The difference is I have a couple blue silk blouses and _you_ still have one of them."

"Well, if you want to get technical _Henry_ stole your blouse and gave it to me. I still don't know why I believed him when he said you wouldn't notice."

Regina laughed— _laughed_ —for almost a full minute. She calmed down just enough, though there was still undeniable mirth in her eyes, to reply, "You wore _tank tops_ and _jeans_ , Emma, and that shirt cost more than your car was worth. And you thought I wouldn't notice when I found you hanging out with my son suddenly dressing to impress?"

"Hey, I could have owned nice clothes. Just because I didn't want to dress like I had a stick up my ass—"

"You seemed to like that look on me," Regina quickly cut her off. "Or was I just imagining all the times you stared at my chest in Neverland?"

Emma's mouth flapped open and shut several times without a single word or even squeaked sound ever coming out. A few seconds later, she said the first rebuttal she could form in her mind or on her tongue. "You popped a button almost every day like you were using them to mark time! And that blouse might have been silk, but the camisole underneath was lace."

Regina victoriously grinned like the cat that ate the canary while she reveled in Emma's dumb, blurted out confession. Emma appropriately groaned. "If I had unbuttoned a button for every day we were there," Regina started to explain, still a little smug, a moment later, "you would have seen more than just lace."

Emma instantly gaped at the other woman, frozen in shock where she continued to stand next to the table, when the doorbell rang. The only body part she moved was her head as she watched the brunette saunter off toward the foyer and remained rooted in place until Regina returned to the dining room with her mother and baby brother following close behind.

Neal bounced as Snow lifted him a little higher on her hip and the movement helped snap Emma out of her thoughts of Regina in lingerie. She smiled at the three-year-old as he beamed at her and waved. He tucked his head into the crook of Snow's neck a second later as though he was shy, which he wasn't, and rubbed his eye with the hand he'd just used to wave.

"Did he just wake up," Regina asked.

Emma looked at her mother as she listened for the answer and her smile faded as Snow directed one at Regina. In the blink of an eye, her mother's eyes slid down the brunette's body with interest and curiosity. Emma instinctively tensed, but her discomfort only grew in the minutes to come.

"I would have let him sleep longer, but I can never seem to pick him up without waking him," Snow replied before her eyes fell to Regina's legs. Again.

Emma shifted almost protectively in front of Regina to keep her mother's eyes off the brunette and was rewarded instantly when Snow's eyes snapped up to meet Emma's just as Regina lightly pressed a hand against Emma's back. It was a small comfort and a silent request to relax that Emma complied with almost immediately.

Snow cleared her throat and locked eyes with Regina before she said, "Nice shirt." Her attention pointedly returned to the blonde once the words were out. A corner of her mouth ticked up to form a lopsided smile and she asked, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Emma's cheeks flared like she'd been caught heavily making out on her parents' couch and it didn't help that Regina slid her hand further up Emma's back. She watched her mother's eyes track the movement and then felt uncomfortable for another reason entirely when Snow focused on a spot just to the left of Regina's arm. Her mother was blatantly staring at Regina's chest and the hint of a smile the woman had directed at Emma earlier was gone.

Snow gazed at Regina as though she didn't have a True Love husband that quite literally shared her heart. The way Snow's lips parted and her breaths sounded quicker and shallow made Emma cringe. It was one thing to want to avoid thinking about her parents having sex with each other, but the idea that her mother appeared open to having sex with her best friend?

Emma shuddered and forced herself to look at anything other than the budding desire in Snow's eyes. Naturally, her eyes landed on the object of the pixie-haired woman's piqued interest. For the first time, Emma realized a few of the top buttons on the flannel shirt were undone just like in Neverland. Unlike Neverland, however, there was no camisole to cover the sliver of skin between unrestrained breasts the sides of the shirt tantalizingly framed in a suggestive V-cut.

The flannel thankfully concealed Regina's nipples, but did little to hide the shape of the woman's braless breasts. Emma swiped her tongue over her bottom lip before she trapped the lip between her teeth and completely lost herself in the appealing sight. She wasn't much of a breast woman. Legs drew her in first and were occasionally followed by a woman's ass. Breasts were almost an afterthought as far as what physical assets caused her to gravitate toward another woman, although she never neglected them during sex, but damn if every part of Regina didn't look delicious in her shirt.

"'Gina!" Neal's whine abruptly broke the spell—because it had to be a spell—Regina had over Emma. Her little brother held out a hand to the brunette that he opened and closed again and again in a 'gimme' motion.

Regina chuckled and removed her hand from Emma's back as she stepped toward the toddler in Snow's arms. "I seem to have a way with this family," Regina playfully, and truthfully, said.

Snow blinked out of her own haze and passed Neal to Regina without hesitation. Once her arms were free, she averted her eyes with evident embarrassment in pink cheeks and how she fidgeted with her hands. "Right, well, David and I will pick Neal up after dinner. Thank you for taking him for the day."

Emma scrutinized Snow's body language when her mother chanced eye contact with Regina again and then smiled at the other woman while she continued to blush. Without Regina's hand on her back, Emma didn't have the patience or control to count to ten before speaking. She didn't even make it to three before she shrilly asked, "Speaking of _Dad_ , isn't he waiting for you somewhere?"

Snow winced at what Emma assumed was the strained and too high-pitched tone of her voice. A glance at Regina and Neal revealed her baby brother had clapped his hands over his ears just a little too late to protect himself from the sharp nails on a chalkboard noise she'd inflicted on everyone. It hurt Emma's ears, too, so she didn't blame him. Thankfully, the momentary pain proved to be worth it when she accomplished her goal.

Snow's mouth wordlessly flapped open and closed a few times before she finally managed a weak reply. "Mhmm. Yes, I- I should… I'll see you both later." She stepped up to Regina and looked shyly into brown eyes before she dipped her head and kissed Neal on the cheek. "Be good for Regina."

"Okay, Mommy," he replied a moment before he snuggled against his caretaker for the day.

For the second time in her adult life, Emma was irrationally jealous of her baby brother. But just like she moved past the jealousy when her parents had excitedly waited for his arrival to dote on him in all the ways they hadn't—couldn't—with Emma, she was sure she'd get over Neal being able to lay all over Regina in ways the blonde had only ever dreamed about…way too much. Best friends never imagined their best friends naked. Right?

The sound of the front door closing and a movement out of the corner of her eye pulled Emma away from her pining and brought her back into the moment. Regina stepped in front of her with Neal still curled against her side and one of his little hands clutched around her shirt, his thumb tucked into the exposed valley between Regina's breasts.

"You're staring." Regina smirked and took another step toward her. Before Emma even realized what was happening, still off-balance from being called out on her shamefully obvious behavior, Regina eased Neal into her arms.

Emma stuttered out a few failed responses before she pushed out a loud and unnecessary announcement. "Regina! My mother was checking you out!"

The woman hummed as if it wasn't a new experience for her. She even sounded slightly amused when she said, "And I wasn't even wearing leather."

"Wha- She- You- _Leather_?" Emma uncharacteristically squeaked, unable to speak or think clearly in that moment.

"Yes, you've seen me in leather," Regina purposely, teasingly, reminded her. "In the Enchanted Forest during your time travel and again in Storybrooke after I split myself. If the Queen hadn't been so hellbent on destroying your family, I'm sure Snow would have appreciated there being two of me."

"That- That's what _bothers_ me! She's my _mom_!"

"So, she's not allowed to have needs," Regina asked through a bout of laughter. "To be attracted to people? I'm a mother. Do you think I shouldn't have or express my attraction for others? Or is she just not allowed to be attracted to _me_?"

Emma's brain short-circuited and she lost her filter before she blurted out, "She's married. And she's not just _a_ mom. She's _my_ mom. She's not- She can't- _Why_ are you okay with this? My mom basically _eye fucked_ the mother of my son!"

"Well, at least you inherited more than her and Charming's idiocy," Regina casually responded. "Your mother has good taste."

Emma's eye twitched and she probably looked deranged, which probably explained Regina's second burst of laughter before she walked back to her once abandoned breakfast.

"Be a dear and share a piece of French toast with your brother," Regina effortlessly changed the subject.

"Yeah," Neal exclaimed his agreement and jumped in Emma's arms.

She took her eyes off Regina for a fleeting second to grapple with her suddenly energetic brother, but looked at the older woman again as soon as she had Neal settled against her side. Regina squirmed in her chair while she seemingly made herself comfortable at the table and smiled at Emma—only Emma—like a warm and peaceful sunrise. And just like icicles bathed in spring's morning light, Emma melted.


	2. Chapter 2

She wanted to pat herself on the back and kick herself in the ass at the same time. A community center with a pool for the short but existent summer seasons Storybrooke lucky experienced seemed like a great idea when Emma had initially pitched it at a Town Hall meeting last year. Within a month, it had the board and the mayor's approval and construction started two months after that. The building was finished after almost ten months and had been open for business for three. All had been going well since the doors had opened and almost every citizen had checked out the facility at least once.

Regina considered it a success. Henry loved going every weekend. Snow and David praised Emma's vision and reason for suggesting they build the center in the first place. Emma took pride in all of that. And when she saw Regina at the pool for the first time, she'd enjoyed that as well. It was then Emma realized how the center would benefit her libido as much as it did her heart. But that quickly proved to be a very good and very bad thing considering just how heated her skin became when she saw Regina in a black two-piece suit that accentuated her assets and exposed a somewhat lean stomach.

Mocha colored skin and her dark and naturally curly hair remained dry despite Regina's nearness to the water. She stood at the edge of the pool with Henry, who was soaked from head to toe, and unnecessarily fussed over him. She embarrassed him thoroughly as she offered him sunscreen and then started to apply some when he wouldn't take the tube.

Emma watched him squirm and say something to Regina that probably sounded a lot like a whiny, "Mom!" She smiled from where she sat in a lounge chair across the pool and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. Unlike Regina, she wasn't dressed to swim and had no intention of getting in the water. She wasn't at all shy about her own body, but she wore a gray tank top and black athletic shorts that stopped just above mid-thigh. Without the motivation to dive in, she hadn't put on a suit under her clothes either.

But Regina… Regina didn't seem interested in swimming as far as Emma could tell from her lack of time in the water, but she also didn't seem to care who saw her in her suit. And plenty of people saw. A scan of the pool revealed just how many townspeople's eyes were on her instead of their kids. Most of the gawkers were men, but there were a few women. One woman was even a familiar and, thankfully, off-duty life guard with blonde hair tied back in a bun.

Tinkerbell wore the standard red one piece with the word 'Guard' printed in white across the chest, but walked along the pool in her sandals with a towel wrapped around her waist. None of the lifeguards ever wore their slip-ons or flip flops while they sat in the chair and Tinkerbell was no exception, as Emma had noticed on other occasions. The former fairy walked a little slower when her gaze landed on Regina, and Emma didn't think she imagined the way pink lips parted.

Emma gripped the side of her lounge chair and heard her blunt nails scratch the plastic. Another glance around the pool showed a few of the spectators alternating between staring at Regina and discussing something with the people around them. Her attention narrowed in seconds on two other blondes she recognized, but hadn't ever thought she'd see at a pool let alone together at a pool. And yet, Maleficent and Nurse freaking Ratched sat at a table under an umbrella with vending machine snacks spread out between them like they were catching up with each other over lunch.

As much as Emma appreciated junk food, not only from vending machines but gas stations and the occasional street vender, she knew the only real food those two had in mind that afternoon was Regina Mills. Blue and brown eyes alike stared unapologetically at the brunette and a few words were exchanged as their gazes remained fixed on the mother of Emma's son. Worse than that, Mal and Ratched had the perfect view of Regina's plump backside. If neither of those women had seen the brunette naked before, it wouldn't be all that hard for them to imagine what that looked like given Regina's suit and their prime position.

Sandals dragged across the concrete and small puddles that lined every side of the pool. Before Emma could turn far enough to see Tinkerbell fail to pick up her feet in her dazed state along the closest side of the pool, her eyes found Regina's first. She caught the brunette already looking at her from across the pool and, a second later, Henry took a few steps away from the other woman and jumped in. He landed in the water heavily enough that he splashed Regina and pulled her attention from Emma with a gasp. The brunette then looked down at herself and touched a few wet spots on her chest and bare stomach before she glared at Henry once he emerged and flipped his drenched and long—maybe a little too long—hair. The glare turned into a partially amused expression while she shook her head at him, which Emma thought was a slap on the wrist as far as punishment. She'd expected Regina to further embarrass the teen in front of his classmates, but Emma still smiled at the sight. Especially when Regina's own smile, previously subtle and directed at Henry, was turned on her as it spread and softened.

And then Emma made the mistake of blinking.

Tinkerbell momentarily blocked Emma's view and Emma noticed the way the other blonde didn't shy away from attempting to make and keep eye contact with Regina as she headed increasingly slowly in the direction of the locker rooms. Emma rolled her eyes before she slid back in her lounge chair and stretched out her legs to sprawl herself across it. She took a deep breath and released it like a heavy sigh to calm herself. If she had to think about how many people had either slept or wanted to sleep with Regina, she was sure to abuse her power as the town sheriff. Or at least start a poolside fist fight.

"Why did I bother asking you to the pool if you're not going to swim?"

"By the way you reacted to getting wet standing too close to the pool, I'm wondering why either of us are here," Emma replied with an overly sweet smile. She turned her head to see Regina standing beside her while the brunette set the sunscreen on the small table between their chairs.

Regina bent toward the table the tiniest bit and drew Emma's focus to the woman's ass. When Regina straightened up and moved toward her own chair, Emma realized Mal and Nurse Ratched still had their eyes glued to Regina with their still perfect view.

"Cover up, will you?" Emma tugged the black knitted tunic out from under her and tossed it over to Regina. "People are staring."

Regina chuckled. "So? Let them stare. It's better than being ignored. If the people staring don't want me in shackles or in front of a firing squad, I don't mind."

"Half the people here can't keep their eyes off you."

Regina shrugged and draped herself across her chair with the tunic balled up on her stomach. The blasé woman showed no interest in putting it on.

"They're drooling like this is a photoshoot. For a centerfold spread!"

"I still don't understand why that makes you upset. I find it flattering."

"Flattering? They're probably imagining doing all kinds of things with you."

Regina grinned when she looked at Emma again. "I doubt that. They're most likely fantasizing about what they want to do to me. Not with me." The brunette glanced around the pool and softly laughed when she looked in Mal and Nurse Ratched's direction. "In fact, I can probably tell you exactly what's going through Mal's head right now."

Emma grimaced and replied, "I'm sorry I mentioned it."

Regina looked over at the audacious blonde across the pool and smirked. Emma watched with narrowed eyes, not at all pleased, and saw Maleficent gaze at Regina with a grin as hungry as her eyes. A second later, Emma's focus racked back to Regina when the brunette flirtatiously waved hello to the human-dragon hybrid.

Regina wiggled her fingers, which would have just been some ridiculous and maybe semi-cute way to wave, but the woman's expression made all the difference and easily convinced Emma that Regina was happily teasing the tall blonde across the enclosed space.

Emma glared at Maleficent and silently seethed beside Regina, who only turned her attention from Mal to Nurse Ratched. Emma wouldn't have noticed if the orderly hadn't instantly brightened. Only seconds before Nurse Ratched straightened her posture and smiled, she'd looked bitter and ignored. As soon as Regina had stopped waving and returned her hand to the arm of her chair, the nurse illuminated like a radioactive substance. The darker blonde almost looked sweet and warm, which was not at all her usual appearance and not just because of the green glow of florescent lights in the hospital basement.

Emma scraped her nails against the plastic armrests again with the same squeaky result, except that time Regina was in earshot.

The brunette turned to Emma not long after she made the sound, but Emma's eyes remained on Mal and Nurse Ratched. The two other blondes looked at her with smug, taunting expressions. Emma didn't blink or move as she glared at them. She sat rigidly with a juvenile determination to stare them down, as if she actually could, and then Regina's laugh broke her concentration.

She turned her head to see Regina looking at her with a fond twinkle in her eyes even as she tried and failed to hide her wide smile behind a hand—the same hand Regina had used to wave at Mal and Nurse Ratched—that the brunette couldn't hold still in front of her mouth. Emma would've felt more embarrassed if she wasn't so bothered by the salacious ogling Regina had received, so instead she gradually released the tension in her shoulders and uncurled her fingers from around her chair.

"Jealous, dear," Regina playfully asked.

"Pfft. No. Jealous? Why would I be jealous? We'd have to be dating or something for me to be jealous. We're not dating."

"We aren't?" Regina feigned hurt and shock before she dramatically placed a hand on her chest. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Emma rolled her eyes and listened to Regina laugh again.

"If you'd told me this sooner, I wouldn't have wasted so much time cooking for you," Regina added, even as she continued to laugh.

Emma loved the sound and almost couldn't resist the urge to smile.

"Mom!" The sound of Henry's call for assistance from the pool attracted their attention. He noticed both of their eyes were on him and directed his next words at Regina. "Can you get my goggles? The chlorine is starting to agitate my eyes."

Regina didn't wait to hear why Henry wanted the goggles before she sat up and started digging in their pool bag beside her chair.

"You're going to look like a nerd," Emma teased him and smiled.

Regina tsked her as she pulled out the goggles and stood. "You're a bully."

"It's not like I'm bullying some random kid. He's ours. And he knows I love him, so it's fine," Emma brushed her off.

Henry refused to be any help. He wobbled his chin and contorted his face to fake a near-tears expression. "You're always so mean to me," he whined.

Regina threw Emma a pointed look, eyebrow arched, but didn't appear angry. She probably saw right through Henry's act, but it didn't stop her from trying to make Emma shut up or feel guilty.

As the brunette approached the pool, she softened when she looked in Henry's direction a few seconds later and bent over to hand him the goggles. Innocent enough, except Regina stood directly in front of Emma. The woman didn't have to bend too far to give Emma a beautifully inappropriate show even Mal and Nurse Ratched hadn't seen. Regina stood at the pool's edge with her legs together and a hand on her thigh, the other extended to Henry as the goggles dangled from it—although, Emma only really noticed black knit fabric stretched across Regina's backside. The cover-up already did little to truly cover Regina's body and it did even less when Regina stuck out her ass in Emma's eyeline.

Emma considered it a gift, one she probably didn't deserve. She also probably shouldn't have enjoyed the sight as much as she did while they were in public and Regina was tending to their son, who definitely took after Emma in all the not-so-great ways.

Henry grinned very much like Regina, but grabbed onto his brunette mother's hand as he reached for the goggles like Emma would have tried had she been in his position. Henry then yanked Regina into the water faster than the woman could process what was happening. She had no chance of poofing back to her chair before she splashed into the shallower part of the deep end.

Henry laughed and looked over at his friends in the far corner of the deep end as they laughed with him.

Regina broke through the surface with a gasp and pushed her drenched hair out of her face. She glared at Henry like it would be the last thing the kid would see for a while, or ever, and Emma chuckled just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"You little shit," Emma said to Henry through her laughter.

"I learned from the best," he quickly replied in his defense. Thankfully, Regina retaliated for her unexpected dunking at that very moment and splashed him in the face. It wasn't the most inventive or punishing revenge, but Henry choked and sputtered for a few seconds. It worked well enough.

Regina victoriously smirked and swam to the closest set of stairs in the deep end while Henry wiped his eyes.

Emma smiled and shook her head at the pair, but the smile faded when Regina pulled herself out of the water.

The other woman emerged from the water with her hands on the ladder railing in a matter of seconds, but everything from that moment on happened in slow motion for Emma. The soaked cover-up clung to Regina's equally wet skin and hung heavily on her until the brunette crossed her arms over her front and grabbed the hem.

As Regina peeled off the wet garment, Emma's jaw dropped and her eyes looked at every inch of exposed skin from the woman's hips to her slightly bouncing chest. She lingered on Regina's taut stomach when the brunette lifted her hands above her head, but, eventually, shamelessly slid her attention lower to the waistband of the other woman's suit. When her eyes later glided over to less than slender hips, she reveled in the way they swayed as Regina strutted toward Emma.

Regina blocked her view soon after that when she lowered the cover-up in front of the bottom piece of her suit. A long moment passed before Emma could tear her eyes away, even with the obstruction in front of Regina's lower abdomen. When she finally did, her attention drifted north and noticed Regina's cutely curly hair. Darkened ringlets dripped water onto her shoulders and the swell of her supple breasts. She'd seen Regina fresh out of the shower before, but always fully clothed and successfully dried off. It was heaven to see her both ways, her hair always naturally curly no matter how dry she was, but Emma couldn't resist the extra sex appeal that came with seeing Regina drenched in a skimpy bathing suit.

But just like before, Emma wasn't the only one enjoying the show.

Regina stepped aside to resettle back in her chair. Emma was slow to follow her movements that time—still entranced by the other woman—and, instead, saw Henry and his gawking friends where they hung onto the edge of the pool in the far corner. The two boys in the group seemed as stunned and in lust as Emma as they stared at Regina in awe. The two girls, one of whom was Violet, looked a little less enthralled. Violet thankfully didn't look for too long, but the other girl, Ava—Gretel—watched Regina with, at the very least, a girl-crush interest until the older woman wrapped a towel around herself and collapsed in her chair. It was the first time since before the curse broke that Emma saw the similarities between herself and the no longer orphaned teen.

One of the boys, Nicholas, said something that looked like it might have been a praise as he struggled to look away even after Regina concealed herself in a towel. Ava seemed to agree with whatever her brother had said and even added to it. Immediately, Henry loudly objected with a whiny, "That's my mom, you pervs!" He skimmed his hands across the surface of the water and splashed them all in the face like Regina had done to him, but he quickly apologized to his innocent girlfriend while she rubbed her eyes.

Emma heard Regina laugh beside her and looked to see that the towel fortunately covered everything but Regina's collarbone and lower legs. She relaxed a little, grateful for the reprieve it gave her and how it denied everyone else a look at something Emma selfishly wanted to keep a secret—although, even in clothes Regina always looked ravishing.

"Serves him right for pulling me into the pool," Regina said as she watched Henry's friends with her infamous evil smirk that sent shivers down Emma's spine. "You think he's learned his lesson?"

Emma briefly smiled and replied, "I think he's never going to ask you to come to the pool with him again. I'm inclined to agree with him if that's what he decides."

"Because you want to be the only one that gets to drool over me?" Regina teasingly asked with amusement evident in her playful pitch and shining eyes.

Emma didn't answer, but probably would have embarrassed herself further if she had. She was thankful for that, at least, but less thankful for the two blondes still seated at the table almost directly behind Henry and his friends.

Nurse Ratched downed her water like one look at Regina caused instant dehydration, which Emma understood since her mouth constantly went dry as wetness pooled in other places. The nurse's eyes focused blankly ahead at the pool entrance as if she was forcing herself not to look at Regina. Emma understood that, too.

Mal, on the other hand, didn't appear to want or need to avert her gaze. Blue eyes stared at Regina as they took on a more animalistic sharpness. The look on Mal's face could only be described as primal, predatory, and the woman appeared seconds away from transforming.

"She could set you on fire, you know." Emma turned and immediately caught Regina's gaze as the brunette looked at her with a lopsided smile. "I'm sure she'd love to burn you to a crisp after your history with her daughter. And if you get in the way of whatever she's thinking when she looks like that? You're toast."

"Are you saying I should just _let_ her keep devouring you with her dragon eyes? You're okay with her looking at you like that and getting all…territorial?"

Regina shook her head and continued to smile, but turned away from Emma to look over at Mal. "She can stare all day and fantasize all night. That doesn't mean she'll get what she wants."

As if on cue for another ogling blonde to show up, Tinkerbell sidled up to the foot of Regina's lounge chair. Emma glared at Tink, but the vivacious woman didn't even look her way. While she was being ignored, Emma glanced back over at Mal and saw the tall woman avert her angered gaze. Regina's warning about the consequences of getting in Mal's way apparently didn't apply to the former fairy. Just Emma.

With a roll of her eyes, Emma turned her attention back to Tink in time to watch her smile too brightly at Regina and say, "Long time, no see."

"Yes, it has." Regina smiled back and, while it was polite, the expression was warm and genuine. Nothing like her polished, mayoral attitude to boost her approval rating.

Emma closed one fist over her thigh and kept a firm grip on the arm of her chair with the other.

"I've been meaning to get you alone since Zelena had the baby, but it's been impossible," Tink said while her suddenly piercing eyes slid to Emma and finally acknowledged her presence.

Emma showed her the biggest, cockiest smile she'd ever given anyone. It vanished as quickly as it appeared when the brunette extended an invitation that sank Emma's heart.

"Well, I'm free after this. Do you want to grab dinner and catch up?"

Emma gaped at Regina while Tink bounced on her feet and nodded.

"I'd love that."

"Great. I'll pick you up at eight," Regina offered before she dug into her bag and retrieved her sunglasses.

"It's a _date_ ," Tink deliberately stressed and proudly but quickly stuck her tongue out at Emma. The offending muscle was back in the other woman's mouth by the time Regina looked up again.

Tink smiled once more at Regina before she walked off with an extra swing in her step that drew attention to her firm and perky ass. Emma glared hard enough at her back that she wondered if her magic might accidentally manifest and shoot fire out of her eyes.

"Emma," Regina suddenly scolded and jolted her out of her thoughts.

She looked over at Regina just as the brunette practically threw herself out of her chair and clapped a hand over Emma's. Emma noticed the fireball she'd made only seconds before Regina extinguished it.

"Sorry." Emma sheepishly smiled and hoped that would get her out of trouble.

"Maybe it's time we revisit lessons about control," Regina said as she let go of Emma and sat back down. She didn't smile or tease, just voiced a thought, while Emma looked at her like a wounded puppy with her palm still open and turned skyward.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: **Rating changed from T to M for a future chapter and a conversation about sex in this one. :)**

* * *

Loud laughter, quick footsteps and the buzz of familiar magic woke Emma that morning. Unlike all the other times, she was thankful for the redhead duo that yet again served as a human alarm clock. Hair pulled back in a semi-sloppy ponytail and laces tied tight enough not to come undone during a workout, Emma was ready for a morning run just before seven. When she looked out her bedroom window, she smiled at the bit of fog that hung in the air. The sun hadn't poked out through the haze or any of the gray clouds overhead yet, so Emma prepared for the possibility of rain while she was out before she made her way downstairs with her phone and an old pair of earbuds. The kitchen, as usual, became her first priority.

On her way to the fridge to grab a water, she saw Regina at the island counter with her own bottled water in hand. Emma stared at Regina's throat, the woman's head tipped back, as the brunette swallowed a generous gulp. Emma's lips parted and her eyes scanned over Regina's upper body from her chin to her partially exposed collarbones. By then, Emma was helpless to keep her eyes trained at a decent level and her gaze dipped from her sternum all the way down to the other woman's running shoes. Emma wore baggy and black, knee-length mesh shorts with a faded green and ribbed tank top while Regina stood confidently in front of her in a white, semi-fitted V-neck and black yoga capris.

Emma's eyes glided back up to Regina's face as she asked, "Going somewhere?"

Regina lowered her water and screwed the cap back on before she matter-of-factly replied. "Running. With you."

"Uh, no. We didn't make a plan to go together. Did we?"

"When have we ever needed to make plans first?"

Emma's eyebrows instantly shot up before she quickly listed off the numerous examples Regina herself had given Emma over the years. "Henry's schedule, courses of action for fighting our way out of villains' traps and curses, then there was a plan for how we were going to tell my mom I was moving in with you in a way that either made her freak out or cry 'just for the fun of it, Emma. I never get to mess with her now that we're _friends_.'"

Regina's eyes widened as the woman briefly seemed to take offense. Regina then calmed herself a little before she replied, "I do _not_ sound like that." The brunette set her water down on the island and added, "But I see your point. Next time, we'll discuss it first if it makes you more comfortable."

"Next time? As in, you're still tagging along with me _this_ time?"

Regina looked down at herself and motioned to her outfit. "I didn't just put this on because I like the way it makes me look."

"You do look good in it, though," Emma muttered as her eyes swept over Regina's body again.

Regina grinned at her when Emma locked eyes with her a moment later.

"Okay," Emma conceded before she cleared her throat and tried her hardest not to blush. "I guess we're going for a run."

"Excellent," Regina huskily responded. It sounded like a thinly veiled challenge. Either that or the thought of them running together turned Regina on, but Emma wasn't sure what was sexy or alluring about someone sweating until they were smelly and gross.

Emma had no idea what she was in for until Regina 'MILF' Mills quickly put an end to her misguided illusion about partner workouts. She failed to keep up with the woman for, hopefully unnoticed, lack of trying.

The first time she'd fallen behind, she'd slowed down to skip a few songs on a playlist and looked up to find her favorite ass bouncing with every stride. She'd stopped completely for half a second before she'd realized the distance growing between them and sped up her pace to catch up to the brunette.

The next time it happened, she had no excuse other than to check Regina out. Again. For weeks, Emma felt like all she did was stare at the woman. Forget binge watching TV shows, her eyes were constantly glued to her co-parent and best friend. Inappropriate as it might have been, Regina could watch paint dry and Emma wouldn't move for anything. Not even food. Well, she'd move if Regina asked her to or if it brought Emma closer to living out one of her increasing number of fantasies, but nothing else.

"Am I moving too fast for you," Regina asked with a smirk and raised brow directed at Emma over her shoulder.

Emma blinked and looked up from Reinga's glutes. She'd been caught staring again, but Regina didn't seem interested in teasing her about or calling her out on it. The brunette's tone sounded amused, but appeared to be about Emma's tortoise pace.

"I haven't gone running…ever," Regina said. "You've done it almost every morning since you came here."

"Correction, almost every day since I became a bounty hunter."

"That's even worse," Regina replied with a hint of laughter. "Either you're distracted or you're somehow out of shape."

"I'm not admitting to either of those things."

Regina laughed loudly and quickly on her next exhale. "You don't need to admit anything. Just keep up. I didn't invite myself on this run just to _walk_."

Emma rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to invite yourself at all."

"You're right. I should have gone by myself, but I wanted to go with you."

Emma furrowed her brow and almost stopped in a single, abrupt stride. "Why?"

"Because you run and I wanted the exercise. Little did I know, the only running you still do is from your feelings."

Emma scoffed, but Regina had a point. She didn't feel like addressing it, so Emma ran a little faster and put herself in the lead for the first time in the last ten minutes. When she looked over her shoulder several seconds later, Regina was already hot on her heels and in her peripheral vision.

No makeup, slightly widened eyes, parted lips and harsh breaths. Regina was a natural beauty, even without her amazing assets on proud display. Emma had known that for a while, but she'd also never seen Regina work out. Thin strands of stray hair fluttered around her face in the breeze and later stuck to the corners of her mouth. Emma stared in awe as her own loose strands bounced in front of her eyes. It didn't impede her gazing for more than a second at a time, which slowed her speed just a little. She managed to only fall a step behind every other stride and then caught up in the next to run alongside Regina again.

"Should I stop so you can take a picture?" Regina kept her eyes on the path ahead, but smirked. "I'm surprised you haven't run into a tree or over the side of a dock with how frequently you've been staring at me."

"Are you bothered by that," Emma asked with a hint of audible defensiveness that made up for her surprising lack of embarrassment of being caught. "Because you didn't say anything earlier."

"I'm not bothered. I'm flattered. But I'm also worried you spend too much time paying attention to me and not enough to where you're going."

"I didn't realize you cared so much," Emma grumbled. It would have warmed Emma's heart on any other day to hear Regina say that, but they hadn't talked about anything other than Henry and who should make dinner, as decided by who would arrive home earlier, in the last forty-eight hours. All because of a certain blonde pixie.

Regina slowed down and turned to look at Emma with confusion. Brows furrowed, lips slightly pursed as though she wanted to say something but failed to find the best way to say it, Regina's eyes searched for an explanation.

Emma huffed before she fell back two steps to reluctantly slow down and continue to run alongside the brunette.

"Of course I care," Regina finally replied. "We're…friends."

The pause before the term "friends" gave Emma as much hope as it gave her a sharp pain in her chest.

"Friends are concerned about their friends' well-being. Physical and otherwise," Regina elaborated.

"Yeah, well, as surprising as it is, you said it yourself." Emma tried to brush off Regina's concern. "I haven't run into anything. I'm fine. But I came out to run, not to talk. If that's what you wanted, you should've waited until breakfast."

When she looked over at Regina to see if the woman would comply with her somewhat forceful request to stop talking, she saw the brunette frown while the worry in dark eyes only seemed to grow. Emma huffed out a loud and heavy sigh, but didn't try to explain herself or apologize. Emma, instead, looked forward again and focused on the road ahead of them. She knew Regina didn't deserve her childish and rude attitude, but Emma's emotions burned fiercely inside her like a raging wildfire that threatened to consume everything in its path.

She knew it wasn't healthy. She felt it with increasing pain as she struggled to be sociable with the one person she'd come to trust and care for deeply.

As they jogged around a corner alongside the park, Emma felt a hand clasp her bicep just seconds before she stumbled to the side and over a curb. Regina had yanked her off the path and toward the nearest bench.

Emma hissed in pain when her hips and lower back slammed against the back of the bench, but Regina's earlier concern appeared to have been replaced with a fire all her own in smoldering, chestnut colored eyes. She pushed away from the bench and tried to slide away from Regina, but the brunette effectively pinned her in place when Regina gripped the top of the bench on either side of Emma.

"What is going on with you," Regina sharply asked.

"Nothing," Emma said a little petulantly before she looked down and away from Regina's piercing gaze.

"You've been distant and moody for almost two days now."

"Just because we live together doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to have some space," Emma grumbled and continued not to look at the other woman.

Regina scoffed. "Have I cornered you and forced you to talk about your feelings?"

"You're doing that right now!" Emma's outburst had her lift her head and the blonde locked eyes with Regina for just a second before Emma looked off to the side of Regina's shoulder.

"You've been avoiding me," Regina sternly said by way of explaining herself. "That's not nothing."

Emma clenched her jaw and continued to stare at the ground, but Regina was determined to make her talk despite the silence that stretched between them. Regina trapped Emma's chin between her thumb and index finger and forced Emma to turn her head, but Emma stubbornly lowered her gaze to focus on the ground.

Regina didn't say or do anything else for a while except to hold her in place and Emma wondered what the woman's intentions were if not to push Emma to talk. The lack of conversation while Regina seemed to be waiting out Emma's disobedience made the blonde uncomfortable enough to meet Regina's eyes again. She immediately locked onto Regina's intense and compassionate stare and it stole the breath from her lungs. Chestnut colored eyes crinkled when something finally seemed to click for Regina and Emma's stomach dropped when the brunette asked, "Is this about Tinkerbell?"

Regardless of Regina's curious yet soft tone, the words cut through Emma like an accusation.

Emma nervously licked her lips and squirmed within Regina's restraint. That nervousness turned into confusion when Regina's eyes drifted to her mouth.

Emma's skin tingled from her fingertips to her toes while her nipples inappropriately stiffened beneath her sports bra. She felt her body temperature rise, but wasn't sure the heat came solely from herself when she looked down and noticed that Regina's lips were much closer to hers than they had been seconds ago. Hopeful that Regina felt similarly, she closed her eyes and slowly slid her hands over Regina's where the brunette continued to grip the bench when—

"Oh!"

Emma's eyes popped open just as Regina tensed and stared at her, equally horrified, before their attention shifted to their unexpected company.

"Uh, sorry," Ruby apologetically smiled and plucked an earbud free as she awkwardly came to a stop on the sidewalk a few feet away from them.

Emma hastily pushed Regina away like a teenager caught making out, or worse, with someone by their parents. Regina, like a true adult, pulled away at a much calmer pace.

Ruby scrunched her brow and looked critically over them before she asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

Emma cleared her throat and fiddled with her ponytail while she resumed her earlier activity of staring at the ground. She leaned back against the bench despite her recent liberation and glanced at Ruby when she flashed a sheepish smile at her werewolf friend. She looked away just as quickly once she saw Ruby's knowing look and almost predatory grin.

"Yes, Miss Lucas, you interrupted a private conversation," Regina replied in her 'Madam Mayor' voice while she rubbed her hands against her running shorts as though to smooth out non-existent creases.

Emma's eyes were drawn in by the motion immediately and her gaze slid up caramel colored legs to stare longingly at the woman's thighs for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few weeks. Too focused on her latest weakness, Emma heard but didn't acknowledge Ruby clear her throat. She only noticed a couple seconds later when Regina's hands moved from her shorts to her hips. She followed the movement, but her eyes scanned the rest of the way up Regina's body until she locked onto the brunette's eyes already staring back at her.

Emma nearly jumped out of her skin, surprised she had Regina's attention, and looked over at Ruby to avoid the intense—although not uncomfortable or upset—eye contact. Looking at Ruby wasn't much better, though. Mirthful eyes stared back at her with an even bigger grin than previously displayed. The former waitress stood with a cocked hip and arched brow with an expression seconds away from crinkling in laughter. Emma wasn't amused in the slightest.

"So, Miss Lucas, this is the second time I've seen you back in my town." Regina seamlessly pulled their attention away from each other before Emma could glare daggers at her old friend, as though Regina sensed the potential for Emma's magic to flare. Wouldn't have been the first time. "Are you staying indefinitely?"

Ruby held Emma's gaze for a few seconds longer before she turned her attention to Regina and answered, "Yeah, we just got back last week." Ruby's smug and knowing expression morphed into a beautifully warm and happy smile. "I missed everyone here. Oz has been…an experience. There are some great people there and Dorothy and I plan to visit, but…this is home."

Regina smiled back and it warmed Emma's heart. "How is Dorothy liking it here?"

"We're definitely not in Kansas," Ruby replied with a hint of laughter, "but Granny welcomed her with open arms and I think that matters more to her than anything else. She heard Zelena lives here now and she's not too comfortable with that."

"If it's any consolation, my sister has a baby that monopolizes her time and she's currently living with me," Regina informed her. "If she gives you any trouble, let me know. But I doubt she'll do more than pull a few pranks. No curses or death threats."

Ruby's eyes popped wide open. "She has a kid? Wow. Full house, huh?" Ruby didn't hold back her laugh that time.

"Indeed," Regina said with a fond smile.

"Yeah, you think Zelena's bad? Imagine a mini-Zelena entertaining herself with her own magic," Emma commented.

Regina chuckled. "One day my niece is going to surpass your magical abilities."

Emma narrowed her eyes at the woman and said, "She hides my keys, poofs my pants back into the drawer while I'm still wearing them, turned my red jacket green and my grilled cheese into a kale salad. Kale salad, Regina!"

"It was a wonderful salad." Regina glowed with pride. "And how long did it take you to learn how to poof a stagnant coffee mug compared to a pair of pants, hmm? You achieved it at thirty. She did it at nineteen months."

"Your niece is a troll," Emma pouted.

"My niece is brilliant," Regina argued.

"Should I give you two a minute," Ruby asked with audible delight.

Emma turned to Ruby to find glittering brown eyes and thin arms crossed over the woman's chest, smug yet again.

"And here I thought I saw you getting cozy with another blonde a couple nights ago," Ruby prodded with her eyes on Regina.

Regina noticeably bristled just as Emma glanced at her and then looked down to watch herself scuff the toe of her shoe against the ground.

"Friend or flame," Ruby asked, seemingly oblivious to the sudden tension.

"She's just a friend," Regina quietly answered.

With her head still down, Emma didn't see that Regina had spoken directly to the blonde when she provided Ruby with a reply.

"Looked like a lot of touching for just friends," Ruby commented wryly. After a few seconds, Ruby seemed to backtrack for a reason Emma couldn't discern with her eyes still averted. "I mean, the only friends I've had are Snow and Belle, so I don't really know. With Snow, it was a shoulder pat or linked arms while we walked side by side through rough forests and that was more to keep each other from tripping or anything. With Belle, I think I kind of had a crush on her and she was in a bad situation with Rumple at the time, so it seemed like we hung on each other emotionally and physically a lot. But-"

" _Miss. Lucas._ " Regina's sharp voice compelled Emma to finally look up. "Why don't you run along, hmm? I would like to finish the conversation Emma and I were having before you showed up."

Ruby glanced nervously back and forth between Regina and Emma before she said, "Right. Guess we can catch up another time."

Emma groaned before she could control herself. "I'm going home. See you later, Rubes. Nice to have you back," she said as politely as she could manage. Instead, it came out as dejected as she felt.

She jogged off without looking back and made it halfway to the house before Regina caught up with her, determined and out of breath.

"Emma, wait!"

The blonde maintained her brisk pace, even as she felt the effort take its toll on her lungs. Emma didn't even look over at Regina, who trailed only a few steps behind her.

"Are you really going to punish me for having dinner with a friend," Regina tersely asked through her heavy breathing.

"I'm not punishing you. Everything's good between us. Date whoever you want," Emma tried to feigned airiness, but it came out a little snippy.

"I already told you, it wasn't a date," Regina replied with some exasperation.

"Ruby seems to have a different impression."

"Am I not allowed to spend time with any of my other friends?"

" _Is_ Tinkerbell just a friend?

"Yes. Something else I've already told you. What happened to always knowing when I'm lying?"

"Whatever," Emma moodily said after a moment. "You're free to do whoever you want, Regina. Hell, maybe you want to call up Maleficent for a threesome. Unless the threesome is between your pet dragon and that psych ward nurse."

"I know you didn't just say that."

Emma stayed silent and kept jogging back toward the house.

Regina scoffed a few seconds later. "Stick to your usual colors, Emma. Green doesn't look good on you."

For a while, Emma stubbornly refused to say anything else. She knew she shouldn't have made the comment, even as it had tumbled out of her mouth. As she started to deflate, she said, "I didn't mean it like that" and looked over her shoulder only to realize Regina wasn't there. Emma turned around to face where Regina should have been and stopped before she scanned the surrounding area. Unable to see Regina anywhere nearby, she called out the brunette's name a few times and didn't get a response.

Reluctantly and with a frown, Emma faced forward and started jogging toward the house again. Ten minutes later, she walked into the semi-quiet mansion and made a beeline for the kitchen. She jumped a little in surprise to see Regina at the stove with a half-finished bottle of water next to her and eggs cooking in a pan in front of her. Regina's focus shifted from breakfast to Emma a few seconds after Emma appeared in the entryway, but brown eyes didn't stay on the blonde for long. Just long enough for Emma to know that Regina looked tired and upset.

When Regina returned her attention to the eggs, Emma took another step into the kitchen but hesitated before she could close too much of the distance between them. "I'm sorry," Emma blurted out and did a sort of dance as she struggled to figure out how close was too close in the small room that only seemed to get smaller with each passing minute. "I didn't mean what I said. It just…came out. But you really can do whatever you want. Or who. No judgement."

Regina was still noticeably in a huff when she dryly said, "I'm aware."

Emma groaned, "This all keeps coming out wrong."

"Things would be easier if you just say what you actually feel instead of taking jabs at my sexual proclivities."

Emma sighed with defeat and replied, "Fine. You and Tink going out bothered me because it felt like she only wanted to rub it in people's faces that she could have sex with you."

"Agreeing to go out for dinner isn't some code word for sex. It was just dinner."

"All it takes is one too many touches or intense looks, some flirting and everyone will think you're together."

"Everyone or you?"

"What?" Emma acted confused if only to dissuade Regina from thinking she was embarrassed, which she was because _how could she be so obvious?_ "Ruby just proved everyone thinks you two are together."

"Ruby is just one person and she never suggested Tink and I looked like a couple."

"The exact word she used was cozy."

"Emma, we share a son and a house and don't spend much time apart now that you live here. Some people might say _we_ look cozy, but we aren't having sex. Do you think everyone thinks we are just because we look 'cozy'?"

"If you aren't, you should be," Zelena casually interrupted as she strolled into the room. "If you aren't going to shag each other, maybe you should come to the bar with me tonight and find people that'll take care of the ridiculous amount of tension you two have pent up." Zelena's eyes cut to Emma and with a smirk, she added, "Unless Emma prefers to say home and shag herself while we go out and have some fun."

"What? Whoa! No. No, I wouldn't- I don't- do that," Emma sputtered through her defense.

Zelena threw her head back and gleefully cackled like Emma had just made her day. When the redhead settled down enough to speak coherently, she said, "That explains a lot. Really, Emma, you should consider it. There are so many benefits to masturbating. At the very least, it helps with blood flow and the hormones released before, during and after climax improve your mood. I would do it more often than I do now, but I don't get much time to myself now that I have Robyn."

"Oh my god," Emma almost shouted. "I don't want to know what you do to yourself, Zelena. And I'm not saying I don't do that, I just haven't- I wouldn't do that here."

That seemed to get Regina's attention. The brunette crinkled her brow and asked, "Where exactly do you masturbate if not in your own home?"

"Okay, technically, not my house. I just live here," Emma deflected.

Zelena rolled her eyes. "If you don't do it in the house, where do you go to do it then? The backyard? Empty, unsold houses? The park?"

"Gross! No. No public places. I don't- I haven't done it since moving in here," Emma quietly confessed.

Regina's eyes almost popped out of her head and Zelena's expression wasn't much different, except for the wicked gleam in her eyes.

"That," Zelena started to say with stifled laughter, "is a long time to go without sex of any kind. Unacceptable. You're coming with me tonight." Emma opened her mouth to argue, but Zelena quickly added, "That's not up for discussion. What do you say, Sis?"

Regina whipped around to stare wide-eyed at Zelena.

"Drinks, dancing, your dear sister and wife for company?"

"We are _not_ married," Emma uselessly interjected.

Zelena, as expected, ignored her. "When's the last time you went out to unwind anyway," the older Mills asked Regina.

Regina opened her mouth, but shook her head a split-second later.

"Right, we're having a girls' night," Zelena declared. "Nine o'clock. Oh! And, Emma, invite Mulan when you see her at work today. I refuse to be a third wheel."

Before Emma could refute Zelena's yet again incorrect claim, the redhead sauntered off and left Emma to stare half-nervously, half-quizzically at Regina just as the eggs on the stove started to sizzle.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note** : The chapter length of this fic has changed from 5 to 6 due to the longer word count in this one. I also almost had this finished last week, but I've been working on this one in pieces and needed to take a little break from adding and changing things. Not that it didn't save me from the three passes I took to look over it before I finally felt happy with the result. Hopefully you're also happy with it. :)

Massive thanks to Kaleena for helping through several of my little concerns/insecurities with this chapter.

* * *

One look at Regina made Emma feel under dressed and overdressed at the same time. The brunette wore a sinfully tight mini dress that looked like a mix of 'Madam Mayor chic' and 'Evil Queen temptress'. Sheer purple lace, a black lace bodice underneath and a matching black skirt fueled the blonde's arousal.

They hadn't even been at the bar long enough to have ordered their first round of drinks and Emma already couldn't keep her eyes off Regina's legs. If she didn't know better, she'd think Regina wore the dress to show herself off and torture Emma all at once fully knowing those caramel colored thighs were her weakness. Emma's black jeans, gray swing tank top and ankle boots paled in comparison to Regina's regal and sophisticated display of sex appeal.

Zelena looked much the same in an equally skimpy, dark green V-neck dress with a thigh slit and nude heels. While Regina minimized her cleavage exposure with a modest neckline, Zelena left hers on full display and caught the attention of most of the bar's patrons. Even Mulan, who'd reluctantly agreed to tag along for the night, struggled to keep her eyes off the other woman's fair and freckled skin. Those wandering eyes begged a discussion at a Moore appropriate time because, while the blonde also did a double take when she'd first seen the older Mills, Emma thought she saw a hint of longing in Mulan's dark eyes.

Emma felt grateful to have a drink only minutes later when she went to sit down at the table the Mills sisters had found and saved for the group. When she and Mulan returned from the bar with everyone's orders, Emma's eyes immediately drifted down to Regina's bare legs on full view under the table. The other woman's dress had ridden up and made it impossible for Emma to look anywhere else. She set Regina's drink down in front of the brunette before she took a large sip of her own whiskey and soda to give herself a moment to control her raging libido and hungry eyes.

Wine red lips smiled at her from behind the rim of a glass before Regina thanked her and sipped delicately from a dirty martini. Regina's bouncy, shoulder-length curls reminded Emma of a previous night out sparked by Regina's excitement over a 2-for-1 special at Aesop's Tables and she looked just as gorgeous then as she did for girls' night.

"You look beautiful," Emma blurted out while her eyes followed the flow of Regina's silky looking curls. When her own words finally registered about three seconds after she'd said them, Emma's eyes flitted to Regina's and a blush crept over her cheeks.

Regina's smile returned with the addition of amusement in her twinkling, brown eyes before she replied, "Thank you."

Emma tried to hide her blush with another gulp of her drink.

"You look…" Regina trailed off as her eyes swept over Emma's chest and arms, "stunning."

Emma's blush spread and intensified, especially after the burn of alcohol slid down her throat. "Thank you," Emma quietly said as she lowered her drink onto the table.

Zelena sighed and jumped into the conversation with, "Quit eye fucking and just fuck already. This is exactly why I invited you here. I wouldn't have left Robyn with your parents otherwise."

Emma's body flared pink and hot with embarrassment. It didn't prevent her from glaring at the redhead, but it probably looked less intimidating.

"My sex life is that important to you that you're doing the one thing you said you'd never do?" Regina disbelievingly asked with a flat voice and raised eyebrow. "You're exposing your daughter to the, and I quote, 'most insufferable heroes of all'."

"Yes," Zelena exclaimed with wide eyes and slapped a hand against the table top. "You, unlike Emma, may self-satisfy every other week, but I don't think that's enough."

Regina stiffened and glared across the table at her sister with a look that could kill if the brunette didn't also appear so interested in running away from the situation.

"You need the touch and affection of another," Zelena added, unintimidated. "Your orgasms will continue to be empty until you find a partner."

"Zelena," Mulan admonished and stressed her point with a kick to the redhead's leg under the table.

"Ouch!" Zelena glared at Mulan.

Emma glanced at Regina, unsure if she could look the brunette in the eyes after all Zelena had shared. If she could, though, she doubted Regina wanted even the slightest bit of attention.

"You don't even have to sleep with Emma," Zelena added. "Just find _someone._ I just figured, the way you look at each other and the fact that you both need to get laid would make a good fit."

"I could use another drink," Mulan cut in before she hopped out of her chair. "Zelena, why don't we go get everyone another round."

Zelena shot a serious, arched brow expression at Regina. She continued to do so even when Mulan yanked her out of her chair and pulled her along to order more drinks. Once Emma and Regina were alone, awkward silence overpowered the loud music and added to the tension between them.

Emma squirmed in her chair and chugged a majority of the remainder of her drink. Awkward as ever and noticeably uncomfortable, Emma tried to break the tension by asking, "So, you've…'self-satisfied' at the house?" She nervously laughed as soon as the question left her mouth.

Regina's eyes flicked to her for a few seconds before the brunette looked away and cleared her throat. "My orgasms aren't empty," Regina grumbled.

Emma's laughter dissipated, but her smile remained as she replied, "I never said they were."

"And it's not like Zelena has any room to talk. As far as I know, she doesn't even have time to touch herself and she isn't seeing anyone. Although, she does get out of the house more than I do."

"You get out of the house," Emma tried to assure the woman, but it sounded whiny and as though Emma needed to convince herself of the same thing.

"When? To run errands, go to work, grab takeout somewhere? That's not going out. That's boring. Routine. Ordinary."

"Okay, no. You are _the_ reformed Evil Queen. You have magic—some seriously powerful magic—and you're a gorgeous, kickass woman and the best mom ever. You, Regina Mills, are anything but ordinary." Emma placed a hand over Regina's on the table before she even realized she'd moved. She still hadn't noticed it, even as she went on to say, "And obviously I'm not the only one that thinks so. You were just out on a date with Tinkerbell."

When Regina looked up at her that time, Emma felt on the verge of receiving a scolding. "It wasn't a date," Regina firmly insisted.

"Right. Sorry. You were just out on a not-date with Tinkerbell," Emma corrected herself.

Regina shook her head and her lips curled into a poorly contained smile.

Emma beamed in response. "I'm really sorry I got upset earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at or interrogated you and I shut down at the park. I just… I guess I wasn't ready."

"Ready for what?" Regina barely finished asking the question when Zelena made dramatic entrance into another one of their conversations.

"Well, it's not first base, but you're getting closer," Zelena breezily said with a look down to Emma and Regina's joined hands.

Emma followed the redhead's eyes and, for the first time, registered that her hand rested atop Regina's. She didn't abruptly yank it away the same way she'd reacted when Ruby had caught them together, but she did pull away and give Regina an apologetic look all the same. They made eye contact long enough for Emma to notice Regina's earlier curiosity mixed with some confusion.

"I'd keep apologizing for her, but I'm afraid I'll run out of air from the frequency of them," Mulan joked. "But I'm sure you two know all about that."

Their attention shifted to the other woman and Regina didn't seem plagued by her emotions when she replied, "Zelena should consider herself lucky to have someone still willing to apologize for her, especially if you're apologizing to your own family."

Zelena groaned and then whined, "But I don't want to have familial ties to the Charmings."

"Been there, fought against that," Regina said. "As your nephew, and my son, Henry connects you to them. Every single one of them."

Regina looked at Emma with a hint of a wry smile and Zelena glanced at the blonde only seconds later. "Until death do you part?" Zelena mischievously grinned and then looked between the two of them.

Mulan and Regina rolled their eyes and Regina took her first sip of the new drink Mulan had set on the table. Emma laughed at the mirrored reaction, also thankful not to feel so uncomfortable about Zelena's comment, and reached across the table to grab the drink between Zelena and Mulan.

Two drinks later, Zelena whisked Regina out onto the dance floor without any resistance from the brunette. Laughter bubbled out of Regina as the redhead pulled her by the hand into the center of the room, always making dramatic entrances and demanding attention at every turn, and Emma smiled at the sight. The smile soon fell away when Regina started to sway to the music. Emma's eyes fixated on the way Regina moved her body naturally, effortlessly, to the rhythm in ways Zelena didn't inherit. The elder Mills still danced better than Emma ever thought herself capable, but she had nothing on Regina's hips. Left, right, front, back. Regina smoothly executed every move in all directions with purpose and perfect timing.

The slurping from a straw in an empty glass pulled Emma's attention away from Regina to see Mulan holding her drink in both hands and staring at the sisters with wide-eyed focus, although Emma had a feeling one held more of the woman's attention than the other. Noticing the awkward way Mulan sat, she glanced down at Mulan's lap to see the warrior's knees pressed tightly together before she looked up again at Mulan's slightly panicked yet fascinated expression.

"Do you want to dance with her," Emma found herself asking before she could consider how it might make Mulan clam up.

"What?" Mulan sputtered and set her drink down with more panic than interest in her eyes when she turned them to Emma. "No. I don't dance."

Emma stifled a laugh but failed to contain an amused smile. "That doesn't mean you don't _want_ to dance with a certain someone," she replied before her eyes skated across the bar to refocus pointedly on Zelena and Regina.

"I think you're projecting," Mulan calmly fired back.

Emma whipped her head around to look at the woman beside her.

Mulan smirked like the cat that caught the canary when they locked eyes.

Emma glared. "Proud of yourself?"

Mulan shrugged and looked down at her glass as she spun it around in controlled circles on the tabletop.

"Well, nothing I do or feel is going to change the fact that your eyes have rarely left Zelena since we got here," Emma said.

Mulan stiffened and stilled the glass.

"I wasn't going to say anything to you about it tonight," Emma carefully proceeded, "but if you want to dance with her, you should."

Mulan swallowed thickly and timidly made eye contact with her again before she replied, "I could probably say the same to you, but you won't do anything about it either. Will you?"

Emma frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not the only one infatuated with a Mills," Mulan answered with a solid gaze trained on Emma's.

Emma nervously licked her lips and fought the urge to look back out on the dancefloor.

"At least I was being subtle," Mulan added. "Until Zelena wore that dress."

Emma took a deep breath as the urge to look in Regina's direction became too strong to fight and she started to turn her head. Before she could, Mulan slid out of her seat and grabbed her empty glass.

"I think I need another drink," Mulan mumbled, which Emma barely managed to hear over the music, as she headed back to the bar for a refill.

Without company or another distraction from the brunette, Emma looked over at Regina and found the older woman's eyes in seconds. Her heart skipped a beat before Regina looked at the empty space next to Emma and furrowed a brow. Regina continued to dance, but silently asked about Mulan. Emma cleared her throat and smiled at the concerned woman. She grabbed and raised her own half-finished drink and pointed to it and then the bar. Realization seemed to relax Regina's features and Emma's smile felt a little less uneasy.

Then Zelena seemed to notice Mulan's absence and leaned into Regina with a frown. Regina stopped dancing and said something in Zelena's ear before the redhead seemed to respond. Emma watched the brunette nod along with whatever Zelena said and then left Regina alone on the floor with a beholden shoulder squeeze.

Regina wasn't alone for long. The brunette spun around to watch Zelena on her way to the bar when an all-too-familiar woman instantly appeared in front of her with a bright smile and blocked her view. Emma narrowed her eyes and intently watched Regina exchange a few words with Nurse Ratched. Nurse freaking Ratched, who had strolled up on Regina like a knight in shining armor to sweep the brunette off her feet and save her from loneliness.

And then Emma's jealousy flared. Regina grinned—fucking _grinned_ —at Nurse Ratched before she took the woman's hands in hers and started to dance again. Nurse Ratched looked pleased and moved to the music a second later.

At first, there was enough space to intimately wedge a third person between them. That distance didn't exist longer than thirty seconds.

Emma gasped when Regina willingly and without any apparent prompting danced the few steps to close the gap between their bodies then turned to meld her back into Nurse Ratched's front. She couldn't take her eyes off them for multiple reasons, the strongest being her obsession with how Regina danced with such enticing sexual prowess.

With one hand, Emma scraped her nails up her denim covered thigh as liquid heat pooled between her legs. If she squeezed her drink glass any tighter in the other, she might have been able to crush it with her bare hand. Her eyes rarely left Regina as the brunette moved fluidly to the music with raw sexuality and confidence.

Emma initially hadn't been too excited about Zelena's idea to go out for a girls' night, but watching Regina dance excited her enough to the point of uncomfortable arousal. The only thing that offset that feeling was the sight of Regina's dance partner.

Nurse Ratched's curled hair framed her face and bounced on her shoulders, unrestrained by her usual bun and white hospital cap. She wore a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a pair of low rise white jeans that melded to Regina's mocha colored skin far too much for Emma's liking. Nurse Ratched all but had a thigh wedged between Regina's thighs as they moved close and together in time with the bass-heavy rhythm.

Regina smiled at Nurse Ratched and her brown eyes glimmered with laughter. Aside from Regina's constantly inflated ego with how many people, Emma included, that checked her out daily, Emma hadn't seen the other woman so free and happy in a while. Emma liked it just as much as, if not more than, seeing Regina in her short and alluring dress of choice for the evening.

Unfortunately, Emma wasn't the only one with that particular privilege. On top of that, Nurse Ratched had the added honor of pressing up against Regina as they danced.

Emma balled her the hand on her thigh into a fist when she saw Regina spin herself around and slid back along Nurse Ratched's thigh. Regina pushed her ass into Nurse Ratched's pelvis and raked her hands through her silky brunette hair. Wine red lips parted as Nurse Ratched boldly settled her hand on Regina's hips. Regina rolled her hips in a circular motion that pushed her further into Nurse Ratched before she seemingly rubbed herself along part of Nurse Ratched's thigh. Regina's hands moved down her own body, over her neck and breasts, and along her sides until she placed her hands on Nurse Ratched's on her hips.

Emma's eyes widened and she let go of her drink to grip the less breakable edge of the table. She clawed at it like she'd done earlier with her jeans and continued to watch with rapt attention as Regina appeared to make a quick figure eight with her hips against her extremely lucky dance partner. A second later, the brunette ground down on Nurse Ratched's thigh. Emma heard her blood pound mercilessly in her ears while her heart rate sped up just as the next bass-heavy song slowed everything down.

Regina all but engaged in foreplay with the woman in front of everyone in the bar the way she swayed side to side with Nurse Ratched between the sensual roll of her hips and arch of her back. Zelena seemed to agree with Emma's assessment if the amused grin on her face as she watched Regina grind on the nurse was any indication, but it also appeared that Zelena wanted to encourage Regina's behavior.

"Get it, Sis!"

Mulan blushed where she stood beside Zelena and watched Regina dip and pop all over Nurse Ratched. That had been Emma's initial reaction to watching Regina dance, but that changed when she got too close to Nurse Ratched within the span of only two songs. After that, Emma was turned on and even more jealous than when she'd watched Regina agree to a date with Tinkerbell.

Regina at least had enough self-respect to look somewhat guilty when she looked at Zelena and Mulan. Emma saw her flash a small, embarrassed smile at the two of them before she averted her eyes and seemed to focus on Nurse Ratched's hands. The other woman had the sudden audacity to run her hands up and down Regina's sides while the brunette continued to gyrate against her.

Once Regina directed her attention elsewhere, Zelena followed by Regina's example. The redhead took Mulan's hand and pulled the warrior close before she started to move her hips. Mulan blushed harder as her eyes scanned over Zelena's body from head to toe and back while she moved fluidly with the music.

Emma watched Mulan slowly start to respond to Zelena's moves and sway one way when the redhead moved the other. Her part-time deputy danced the few remaining steps between herself and Zelena and then they were dancing against each other much like Regina and Nurse Ratched. Just the thought of Regina with that woman drew her green eyes back to her best friend just in time to see the brunette step between Nurse Ratched's legs.

With Nurse Ratched's thigh beside her leg instead of between them, Regina slithered down Nurse Ratched's front until the back of Regina's head was even with Nurse Ratched's sex. Almost as soon as Regina had gone as low to the floor as she could, she slowly worked her way back up Nurse Ratched's body and pushed her ass out to shake it to the beat between Nurse Ratched's legs. Regina bent forward the closer her backside came to Nurse Ratched's crotch and then she almost touched her toes when her ass finally rubbed against Nurse Ratched's groin.

Nurse Ratched rolled her hips into Regina for more friction and, the way the woman's eyes glazed over, Emma assumed the woman's efforts were successful. It only made Emma dislike the woman more than she already did. Wasn't it enough Nurse Ratched had seen plenty at the pool? Why did Regina even like the other woman? What the hell did they have in common?

Regina straightened up and then arched her back. The movement pushed out her chest as she ran one of her own hands over the side of her own breast and down, down, down until her fingers teased the hem of her dress.

Emma slammed the side of a closed fist against the tabletop and made her drink jump with the force. She didn't know if her outburst had been from attraction or displeasure from watching Regina use Nurse Ratched for a way to touch herself without sliding her hand up her dress.

"Oh, god," Emma grumbled to herself as that very image played out in her mind. She made the mistake of closing her eyes, as if that would lessen the mortification she thankfully suffered alone at their group's table, and it only invigorated the single motion of Regina's sliding her hand between her legs until the fantasy extended to Regina giving herself an unrestrained orgasm.

When Emma opened her eyes, they immediately locked on Regina's. The blonde almost jumped out of her chair, startled by Regina staring at her for an unknown amount of time while she'd enjoyed the thought of the brunette masturbating.

"Never thought I'd run into you here," a familiar voice said from beside her. In seconds, the brown-haired woman stepped into her direct line of sight and blocked Emma's view of Regina.

Emma looked up into dark eyes and saw Lily grin at her a little knowingly. "Come here often, do you?"

Lily snorted. "We need to work on your pick-up lines."

The tips of Emma's ears suddenly felt like they'd been lit on fire while her cheeks pinkened. "That's not how I meant that."

"I know," Lily said with another laugh and then answered the question as Emma had intended it. "I come here whenever I'm lonely."

Emma narrowed her eyes, gave it some thought and said, "So, you're a regular here?"

"Definitely," Lily answered with a bright expression. "My only friend in town never visits me and even being part-dragon gets boring after a while."

Emma winced. "I'm sorry. I've been a really shitty friend, haven't I?"

Lily shrugged. "Maybe, but Zelena's here maybe once a month and she's nice enough. Devious at times, but I like her."

"Seriously? Wait, you mean you like her as a friend or you _like_ like her?"

"' _Like_ like'? What are, eleven? But no. She likes the strong, silent type." Lily looked over her shoulder with a smile and Emma followed her line of sight to find Zelena much closer to Mulan on the dancefloor.

Zelena and Mulan looked lost in each other's eyes as Zelena moved to the music in an almost slow grind. The redhead appeared ready for more while Mulan stared into Zelena's eyes with awe and a hint of nervousness in her own.

"Wow," Emma said.

"Mhmm," Lily hummed in agreement and turned back to Emma.

Emma dragged her attention away from the somewhat new couple as well and focused on her friend. "That looks intimate. How long has that been happening?"

"It hasn't," Lily admitted. "Mulan is in here as infrequently as Zelena, but they ran into each other here a couple weeks ago and Mulan looked ready to fight her. Bad blood, I guess, but Zelena kind of swooned at Mulan's tough girl instincts. As soon as Zelena showed interest, Mulan didn't know what to do with herself. It was cute. They've met up and talked the last few times I've been here. This is the first time I've seen them dance, though."

"Wow," Emma repeated for lack of a more accurate response. "I guess all those times in the last month that Zelena left Regina and I to babysit her kid makes a lot more sense now."

Lily's eyebrows shot up at that. "It's not enough to be shacking up with the mother of _your_ kid, now you're babysitting her niece with her? How is it you still haven't put a ring on that woman's finger?"

"Oh, shut up. We aren't even dating. And Zelena lives with her, too."

"Yeah, but Zelena is her sister. You're her… I don't even know what you are, but Zelena is related to her. You're not."

"Friends live together all the time," Emma brushed it off.

"Not many friends living together share a kid, Emma. The ones that do are either married or can admit they're a family."

"Hey, I can admit that. Regina, Henry and I, we're a family. I don't have to be romantically involved with Regina for that to be true."

"You're right. You don't. It would just make more sense if you were with the way you two look at each other. My mom was even pissed at you for a while."

"What? Why? I killed her _one time_ to save my son's life and she was resurrected anyway."

"You also have a history with her only daughter," Lily said as she waggled her eyebrows. "But she was more pissed that you stole Regina's heart. I think she was kind of looking forward to starting something up again with her ever since Cruella and Ursula revived her. She put it on the backburner to reconnect with me and then she realized she lost her chance."

"I don't have Regina's heart. That's insane," Emma insisted. "And just the other day your mom was checking her out at the pool and Regina didn't have a problem with it. It was like she welcomed your mom's dirty thoughts about her. Her and Nurse freaking Ratched. The two of them looked at her like she was a juicy steak or something and Regina was like, 'let them look. I'm sure I know exactly what they're fantasizing about me'."

"Ew! My mom and Louise can do whatever kinky shit they want, I just never want to know about it."

"Louise?"

Lily looked over her shoulder again and pointed in Reinga's direction before she clarified. "Nurse Ratched. Her first name is Louise. She's dating my mom."

"Holy shit!" Emma almost fell out of her chair. "Since when? And why the hell is she dancing like _that_ with Regina if she's with her mom?"

"Put it to you this way, they've been together long enough that I consider Louise a second mom. As for the dancing, my mom and Louise both have a history with Regina."

"Don't remind me," Emma groaned.

"Right, well, that's sort of how they became friends. They have an ex in common and I think Regina is their exception to monogamy. I just prefer not to know the details on how that would work."

"But you can watch a woman you consider your other mom basically having sex with Reinga on the dancefloor?"

Lily grimaced. "Not when you describe it that way."

"How _would_ you describe what they're doing?"

"Well, for one, they're both in committed relationships."

"Oh, my god. Regina and I aren't together!"

Lily smirked and disregarded Emma's rebuttal to add, "They're also two friends having fun. Like we should do. Dance with me?"

Emma looked down at Lily's suddenly extended and open hand in front of her.

"Come on," Lily light-heartedly encouraged. "When's the last time you relaxed and just did something silly or for yourself since you broke off your engagement to that asshole a _year_ ago?"

Emma hesitated after that reminder. Between Zelena's masturbation talk and Lily pointing out the roughest part of her collectively tough life, she slowly stood up and accepted Lily's hand. She exhaled and let go of the tension in her shoulders.

Lily smiled at her with warmth and reassurance and led her onto the dancefloor as the song changed to something more upbeat and less grind-worthy. Emma inwardly thanked the DJ for giving her a chance to ease into an uncomfortable situation.

"I'm probably going to be a little stiff," Emma warned. "I haven't danced in a really long time."

Lily's affirming smile remained as she took both of Emma's hands in her own. "It's okay. I have every confidence you'll loosen up. And if you don't, it's not like I'm going to end our friendship over it. Okay?"

Emma smiled back hat her. "Okay."

Lily squeezed her hands and started to sway to the beat. A quick side to side jut of her hips in time to the thumping base. It looked choppy, but Lily's laughter told Emma she'd danced jerkily on purpose. "I remember when you weren't mad or guarded, you used to have these cute and goofy moments."

"Yeah, when we were kids," Emma replied with a hint of her own laughter.

"We had to grow up too fast. What's wrong with being a little 'adolescent' for a few hours at a bar without the pressures of our everyday lives, like being a mom or working some small town job you don't give a crap about but it keeps you from having to live at your mom's place in your thirties?"

"That last one was oddly specific," Emma said with a furrowed brow. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes, but not tonight. Tonight is about pretending there's no tomorrow."

Lily released one of Emma's hands and spun her in a full circle. Emma almost tripped over her own feet during the unexpected move, but laughed loudly when she faced Lily again. A second later, Lily let go of Emma's other hand and the two of them had enough room to dance independently. Emma watched Lily shake herself out and let loose. Lily didn't hold anything back as she swerved and slithered and bounced to the music.

When Lily ran a hand through her unbound hair, Emma stepped closer to her friend and moved right when Lily moved left. Within a single verse, Emma had a knee dangerously close to sliding between the other woman's legs. She refrained from taking that extra step and Lily didn't seem to mind as they continued to dance closely and in sync without molding to each other like Reinga and Nurse Ratched. In a moment of clairvoyant-level unison, Emma rolled her hips forward at the same time Lily did and bumped sexes with her.

A flash of initial shock passed over Emma's face and faded in the blink of an eye before Emma gave in to the curious but familiar and oh-so-nice feeling. After a couple more equally met thrusts that made tantalizing contact, Emma grinned at Lily and turned. She looked over her shoulder as she did what Regina had done earlier and backed up to press her ass into Lily's front.

"Emma," Lily half-whined, half-groaned behind her. "You're gonna get me all worked up just to ditch me before I get off."

Emma chuckled and guided Lily's hands onto her waist before she rubbed against Lily's jeans. "You'll get over it. You did last time."

"Last time we were making on a couch like the teenagers we were, not rubbing up on each other as reacquainted and consenting adults."

"I aim to sexually frustrate you," Emma jokingly confessed with a wink.

"I hate you."

"You miss me."

Lily rolled her eyes and Emma laughed again as she faced forward to give her neck a reprieve from the tense and twisted angle. Almost soon as she looked away from Lily, her eyes met Regina's across the short distance between them on the dancefloor.

Regina stared at her with parted lips as the brunette continued to grind into Nurse Ratched, but her eyes soon slid to Lily. When her gaze returned to Emma, Regina arched an eyebrow and smirked at her.

Emma's eyebrow shot up for a fraction of a second before her eyes drifted lower. Unable, yet again, to look anywhere else other than Regina's alluring body and the skillful way in which the brunette moved it. She licked her lips the moment she saw Regina's hiked up dress and a generous amount of inner thigh on display. If the hem rode any higher, Emma would have known what kind of panties Regina wore. Thankfully, for both their sakes, the dress stayed temptingly high but didn't climb any higher on Regina's body. Unfortunately, that hadn't kept Emma from blatantly watching Regina for the second time that night.

She managed to look Regina in the eyes again after what felt like an eternity and Regina's grin, mixed with the fire in her eyes, reminded Emma of her first year in Storybrooke. The thrill of a good challenge and lack of personal space. Emma sparked to life instantly and felt it in a shiver down her spine, the way her skin broke out with goosebumps, how her nipples strained aggressively against her bra.

Regina cocked her head and looked thoughtfully at Emma like trying to decide her next move. It didn't take long for her to figure out because, before Emma knew it, Regina crooked a finger in a silent request to join her.

"Go get here," Lily said in her ear before Emma could combust from looks alone and let go of her hips.

Emma almost stupidly replied to Regina's finger curl with a non-verbal expression of shock and confusion, but Nurse Ratched glared at her like she didn't want to let the brunette go. Emma knew the feeling all too well, which led her to finally take a chance and walk over to Regina. She smiled at the brunette when she stopped in front of her just as Regina stopped dancing and took a step away from Nurse Ratched. Emma's smile turned into a boastful smirk as her eyes found Nurse Ratched's.

Nurse Ratched rolled her eyes just before Regina turned to face the other blonde. "Thanks for the company," Regina said with a smile.

"My pleasure," Nurse Ratched genuinely replied as she directed all her attention on the brunette. "Looks like you'll get your happy ending after all, your Majesty." Her eyes flicked between Regina and Emma before she looked solely at Regina and added, "Good luck and congratulations." Nurse Ratched winked at Regina before she slipped away and left Regina and Emma alone.

"Uh, you have weird friends," Emma said before Regina turned to face her. "What did she mean by you getting your happy ending?"

Regina beamed at her, but didn't answer. Instead, she draped her arms over Emma's shoulders and asked, "Dance with me?"

Emma stuttered a few half-words as she listened to slow and heavy bass of the current song. "Like…like you danced with her?"

"Well, it's not like they're playing a ballad. This isn't some royal ball or school dance, Emma," Regina said with noticeable amusement in her voice and twinkling eyes.

"Yeah, uh, okay." Emma licked her lips and wished she was a better dancer. While Nurse Ratched hadn't moved much and let Regina do all the work, Emma wanted to be good for the brunette. She didn't want to embarrass Regina or make her regret her choice in dance partner.

All doubts ran and hid in the back of her mind in an instant.

Regina rolled her hips like she'd never stopped dancing and diminished the minimal space left between their bodies.

Emma gasped at the brush of Regina's body against hers. She immediately and instinctively grabbed Regina's hips to brace herself, which seemed to make Regina happy.

The brunette smiled at her again. "Relax," she instructed. "Feel the beat and just _roll_ with it." She demonstrated what she meant by rolling her hips into Emma while she spoke.

Emma groaned. "What are you doing to me?"

Regina throatily chuckled. "Would you prefer I stop?"

Emma sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead against Regina's. "Not really. I'd love to shame stupid Nurse Ratched. You put on quite a show with her."

"Is this the part when you finally admit you're jealous?"

"Were you _trying_ to make jealous?"

"That depends. Did it work?"

Emma smiled and shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

"Thank you," Regina replied with a grin.

"It wasn't a compliment."

"Mm, I think it was. Now, shut up and get your revenge on everyone that made you jealous all week."

"I haven't- That's not- I was _not_ jealous until tonight."

"You almost set Tinkerbell on fire and I've never once seen you make a fireball before that day. You were jealous."

"Okay, that was bad. And obvious. But only because you agreed to go out with her."

"But not for a date," Regina firmly reminded her.

"At the time, it seemed like one. Tinkerbell even called it that when she asked you."

"But we've finally cleared that up, haven't we?"

Emma laughed and teasingly pointed out, "You mean _before_ you worked another blonde's thigh like a freaking pole?"

Regina looked mildly offended for a moment before her expression shifted and her eyes shined with mischief. "You're lucky I like you." It was Emma's only warning before Regina slid a hand down the outside of Emma's thigh and pulled it forward to maneuver it between her legs.

Emma's knees almost buckled. She tightened her grip on the brunette's hips right when Regina ground down on her thigh. Emma immediately felt damp heat through her denim where Regina pressed against her. "Fuck," Emma groaned while Regina slid herself down half the length of Emma's thigh and then started to rub up and down it out of time with the music.

"We'll get there," Regina huskily responded.

"Wha- Are you serious? You want to… Me?"

Regina scratched her nails along the back of Emma's neck and along her shoulders and then rocked her hips forward and back before she rolled them in circles. After a few moves, she rode Emma's thigh to the beat of the music again with hot and teasing precision. Regina worked up and down as though she was teasing herself as much as Emma, and that became undeniably evident when Regina tipped her head back and showed Emma her lust-blown pupils.

"Am I… I'm not just a warm body or stand-in for someone else, am I," Emma breathlessly asked.

Regina maintained eye contact and dropped a hand from Emma's shoulder to one of Emma's hands on her hips. Her breath hitched as she guided Emma's hand up her side until the heel of Emma's palm against her breast. She let it go to rest her own hand against Emma's sternum, her palm against the valley between Emma's breasts, when she panted against Emma's ear, "I want you. No one else."

Emma raked her nails down Regina's side, which snagged on some of the lace, and closed her eyes when Regina nipped her earlobe only seconds after crushing the last of Emma's doubts. Regina then hummed in Emma's ear and started to kiss a trail down the blonde's neck that caused Emma to gasp again and tilt her head back to give Regina access to more skin. "Regina," she barely managed to say over the music, too breathy and caught up in the feel of Regina's lips and tongue. "We're bordering on obscene here."

"Think we made our point?" Regina gently bit down on Emma's pulse point.

Emma's hips bucked into Regina as a whimper uncontrollably tumbled out of her mouth. She popped her eyes open and tensed, immediately aware they were way beyond public decency. It was abundantly clear when she saw Zelena from over Regina's shoulder staring right at her with an arched brow that quickly relaxed as her lips split into a wickedly delighted smirk. "We need to go. Unless you want your sister and any ex-girlfriends hanging around to watch me take you right here."

"I'm sure you could contain yourself," Regina said with just a hint of a question in her tone.

The brunette licked a patch of skin before she sucked it on a forward roll of her hips and that was it. Emma wrapped a fist in Regina's dress with the hand that had partially cupped the other woman's breast while the fingers of her other hand cupped the back of Regina's thigh. "I really can't," Emma replied as she tugged and held Regina as close as possible.

Regina rested her hands on Emma's shoulders, pulled back and stilled her hips to meet Emma's gaze with an intense look in her darkened eyes that made Emma shiver.

Emma dipped down just low enough to get a good grip and the right amount of leverage before she swept Regina off her feet and gathered the brunette in her arms. Regina yelped and immediately wrapped her legs around Emma's waist and squeezed when Emma stood up straight again, which caused Emma to moan and squeeze Regina's ass in response.

Zelena wolf whistled and stole Emma's focus for a split second, but it didn't deter Emma from her goal as she enveloped herself and Regina in white smoke.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note:** Finally managed to finish this chapter! It's actually been 97% done for about a month now, but I recently moved and was all out of sorts with whether or not I still had to copy some of this over from a notebook to the computer. Turns out I didn't have to and I had to forgo eating lunch before my second half of work today just to finish up the last 3% needed to complete the chapter for you. Hope you enjoy it and I apologize for the wait. :)

* * *

They reappeared in Regina's bedroom in the blink of an eye with Emma conveniently facing the bed. Emma didn't waste another second and crossed the room to lay Regina on it. She hovered above the brunette, who kept her legs wrapped around her waist, and licked her lips as she looked from Regina's expressive eyes to her plump lips.

After a few shallow breaths, still in a bit of disbelief, Emma's eyes locked on Regina's again. Neither of them moved or said a word as they stared at each other and basked in the moment. Then, Emma's lips slowly curled into a bright smile before she happily, and ridiculously, said, "Hi."

Regina mirrored her smile, but not the greeting. Instead, the brunette fisted the thin sleeves of her tank top and pulled Emma down for a kiss. Soft, sweet and chaste became languid, hot and passionate. Regina's hands roamed slowly but confidently up and down Emma's sides. Her fingertips tickled Emma's ribs while Emma cupped Regina's cheek with one hand and smoothly slid the other up the outside of Regina's thigh.

When Emma's knuckles grazed the hem of Regina's almost completely hiked up dress, Regina tipped her head back and moaned. Emma chased the sound with another kiss and slipped her tongue inside Regina's mouth for a taste. She moaned as her body rocked forward just once like a knee-jerk reaction. Slowly and only slightly, Emma pulled back and waited for Regina to open her eyes. Within only seconds those chestnut eyes stared back.

"Are we really doing this?" Emma stilled her hands and searched Regina's face for micro expressions that signaled an impending rejection. None appeared. "We just kissed for the first time and haven't been on a date yet and I don't think constantly checking you out with hungry eyes has really made my feelings clear, but this isn't just sex for me. I want more."

Regina smiled and seemingly fought back laughter when she said, "You share my home, my son, now my bed and you still want more?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. But…wait, does it bother you that I've, um, invaded your life like that? When you list all those things, it makes it sound like I haven't really left anything for you to have just for yourself."

Regina sighed as a fond but smaller smile lit up her face. She smoothed Emma's worried brow with a swipe of her thumb and replied, "I may not have liked it at first, but you've grown on me." Emma beamed and then Regina amended, "Like a fungus."

Emma laughed and leaned in again. "You're lying. If I were a fungus, there's no way you'd let me do this." She deftly slid her hand under Regina's dress and curled her fingers around the waistband of the woman's lace panties.

Regina bit her lip and wiggled with anticipation beneath Emma.

Emma tugged at it, pulled the band down to expose skin Emma couldn't see as she chose to maintain eye contact, and then released the band with a soft snap.

"Until you stop teasing me and get on with it, I stand by my assessment," Regina said.

Emma smiled and captured Regina's lips again. She flicked her tongue against Regina's and consciously rocked forward that time. She set a steady, unhurried pace and rubbed Regina's thinly veiled sex with her jeans as she slid her hand over the brunette's hip. Still beneath Regina's dress, she clawed at the lace again and pulled one side of them down until the movement of her own hips impeded the removal. Unwilling to stop rocking against the brunette as she dropped her mouth to the woman's neck, Emma held the panties in place where she'd paused mid-pull.

Regina growled and grabbed Emma by a belt loop. Regina yanked Emma to her and they slammed together roughly enough for both women to moan. The brunette firmly held Emma against her and threatened, "Take them off or you won't get to touch."

Emma internally debated the risk and worth of her options before she agreed with a quick nod. Regina's hold immediately slackened and Emma all but ripped the panties off Regina. She started to toss them aside when curiosity convinced her to look at the partially transparent material.

"Oh my god," Emma groaned. "Do you usually wear thongs?"

"Is that important right now?" Regina nearly huffed, her voice strained from frustration.

Emma looked from the thong to Regina on her back with her dress bunched at the hips and her ankles locked behind Emma's waist, a tantalizing preview of Regina's bare sex on display between them. "No," Emma said as she flung the panties over the side of the bed and slid a hand up Regina's thigh again while she covered Regina's body with her own.

She skated her fingers over Regina's hip and scratched lightly over the bone, which led to Regina bucking into her, before Emma slid her hand over the slope of Regina's ass. She reveled in Regina's gasp before the brunette grabbed a handful of her tank and pulled it up toward her chest. Once Regina bared Emma's torso, the woman rolled her hips into Emma and left a wet patch where she rubbed her uncovered sex against taut skin.

Emma moaned and sped up the pace of her hips to meet Regina's halfway. Her arms and abs flexed with each move, which Regina seemed to admire by the way the woman clawed at her sides and gripped her wrist before the brunette slid her hand up Emma's forearm.

Another roll of Regina's hips and a small sound escaped from the back of Regina's throat. The older woman squeezed her thighs tighter around Emma and yanked down on Emma's elbow when Regina caught her off guard and flipped their positions.

Kiss broken, Regina straddled Emma's abdomen and comfortably sat on top of her. With Regina's knees pressed into the bed on either side of Emma, and the dress ruffled around Regina's waist, it gave Emma the perfect view of the woman's uncovered sex. She saw just as much as she felt glistening folds against her stomach, but only for a few seconds before Regina leaned in with a smirk and bit Emma's bottom lip.

Regina tugged before she released it and then grinned. Emma felt her lean back, so she opened her eyes and watched the brunette reach behind herself and ease down the zipper. Regina's dress parted, but didn't slide down until she moved in and kissed Emma again. Only then did Regina's sleeves fall off her shoulders as she moved.

Emma hummed into the kiss and touched newly bared, warm, smooth skin. Her hum turned into a moan and her hand slid from Regina's shoulder to the back of the brunette's neck when she arched into the woman above her. Emma threaded her fingers in Regina's thick, silky hair and pushed the dress sleeve down the woman's arm with her other hand.

Regina echoed her moan and slipped out of the sleeve when it fell to her elbow between kisses. Regina's breath puffed against her cheek as the brunette rolled her hips again and let out a loud and high-pitched moan in her ear that made Emma moan almost as loudly. Dress still bunched at her hips and all but tossed aside, Emma ran her hands up Regina's exposed sides. When her fingers touched the band of Regina's bra, Regina began to kiss and suck her neck.

Emma audibly sighed through her pleasure and unclasped black lace before Regina skillfully popped the button on her jeans with one hand.

Regina's bra slid down her arms as easily as melted butter spreads. Within seconds, Regina sat up long enough to pull it off completely and fling it over the side of the bed. Immediately after, she snapped her fingers and magically removed their shoes. Emma didn't know where she'd put them, but she didn't really care when Regina continued to rock and rub against Emma. The brunette moaned against the younger woman's neck a second later. Regina playfully nipped at Emma's earlobe and pulse point while she unzipped and dipped a hand into Emma's jeans.

Emma gasped and twitched beneath Regina's touch, desperate for more and unable to move much without disrupting Regina's rhythm.

"If you keep grinding on me any longer, I'm worried you'll come before I get the chance to touch you," Emma breathlessly said just before Regina's fingers skated over her clit and pushed further into the confined space of tight denim.

"Honestly, the friction is more frustrating than it is satisfying," Regina admitted. "Although," she continued before she pushed her tongue into Emma's mouth and laid claim, "I'm sure if I adjust the angle a little bit…"

Regina trailed off and used her mouth to kiss along Emma's jaw and down her throat to tongue the hollow between Emma's collarbone.

Emma gulped and closed her eyes. Another soft sound of pleasure escaped her before it turned into a hum that quickly escalated into a moan when Regina played with her labia and teased her entrance.

"You're not seriously about to fuck me with these jeans still on while you rock your way to giving yourself your first orgasm of the night, are you?"

"Would you be disappointed," Regina repositioned her arm and then slid two fingers inside Emma.

Emma immediately bit her lip and spread her legs wider to stretch tight denim and open herself more to Regina.

Regina smirked and didn't hesitate to match her thrust pace with the speed she chose to rock against the blonde's thigh. The older woman barely managed to retract her fingers before pumping deeper since the jeans restricted her movement, but Emma didn't mind at first. She felt Regina's bare breasts graze her equally bare torso while being filled, though not as completely as she could be.

"Off," Emma instructed. "Take them off."

Regina continued to ride her thigh and whimpered, completely enthralled, like she hadn't heard Emma.

"Regina."

"I'm getting close," Regina quietly replied.

"Let me," Emma said as she wrapped an arm around Regina's waist and hugged the woman close to hinder her movement.

Regina groaned in frustration and squeezed Emma's thigh with both of hers.

Emma quickly used the leverage of their new position to flip them and press Regina into the mattress again. She wasted no time tugging the wrinkled and bunched up dress the rest of the way off Regina and flung it over the foot of the bed. She instantly did a double take when Emma saw Regina, fully on display with dark nipples stiff in the cool air, knees raised and her planted on the bed on either side of Emma.

Regina rested a hand on her stomach like she usually did when nervous or uncomfortable.

Emma licked her lips and stared while her body temperature attempted to compete with the flames of a wildfire. She placed a hand on Regina's forearm, the one Regina held against caramel colored skin, and leaned in. "Beautiful," she said before she kissed Regina with all that she had. It started slow and steamy and turned hungry, consuming.

Regina moved her hand off her stomach and Emma maintained contact as the brunette blindly found the waistband of Emma's undone jeans. Regina unceremoniously yanked them, along with Emma's soaked panties, over ass and thighs.

The jeans bunched halfway to her knees, so Emma pulled away from the kiss and shimmied out of them one leg at a time. She struggled a bit and almost collapsed on top of Regina a few times, but the blonde kicked them off and away before either grew too impatient. Intuitively, Emma peeled off her tank top soon after and unclasped her bra.

"I hope you didn't want to do that part," Emma half-apologized while she shed her bra.

Regina shook her head and gazed adoringly at every part of Emma's naked body. "Damn," came the reverent compliment.

Emma smiled. "Speechless?"

"I spoke."

"One word."

"It was the most appropriate."

"Actually, I still think the most appropriate word of the night is 'fuck.'"

Regina grinned and rephrased what she'd said at the bar. "We're getting there."

"Very soon," Emma purred before she bowed her head and swiped the flat of her tongue over one of Regina's nipples.

Regina arched into her and whimpered when Emma swirled her tongue around the taut peak. Emma then sucked the nipple into her mouth and hummed contentedly as her eyes slipped closed. She felt Regina squirm beneath her before she opened her eyes again and watched the brunette's mouth fall open in a silent expression of satisfaction.

Emma lavished the other nipple with the same attention after that. When she released it with a quiet pop, she trailed wet kisses down Regina's stomach and gently bit the other woman's hip.

Regina hissed and jerked away from Emma's teeth. A hand shot to Emma's hair and tangled it in her fist.

Emma's eyes flicked up to see Regina's other hand go to her own brunette locks. "Too much?" She soothed the area with a slow swipe of her tongue followed by a chaste kiss.

"No," Regina answered. "I liked it. I'm just a little sensitive, so gentle bites feel rougher than expected."

"All the time or just right now?"

"All the time."

"And you like it?"

"Yes. If you bite too hard and I don't like it at that moment, I'll let you know. But I sometimes like it rough."

"I'm the luckiest person in the world," Emma groaned with a smile. She dropped her head again and kissed her way across Regina's pelvic bone to bite down on the brunette's other hip with the same potency.

Regina hissed and jerked away again, but arched into the bite after a few seconds that time.

Emma soothed the skin with a few slow licks. Too tempted to resist, she then sucked at the sore skin and caused Regina to buck. Regina smacked into her chin, but Emma's lips curled into a smile that lessened the suction pressure before the blonde eventually pulled back.

She looked into Regina's eyes and her smile widened. "Absolutely stunning," she said before she dropped down again and kissed along the other woman's inner thighs.

Regina twitched beneath her and her legs rose from the bed.

Emma placed a hand on Regina's knee and the other on the thigh Emma wasn't kissing and attempting to leave hickeys on. She pushed down to keep Regina's legs mostly on the bed and didn't let any of it deter her from her goal. Once she heard Regina's breathing quicken, she started to kiss and nip at the woman's other, semi-neglected thigh while she slid the hand on Regina's knee up to the brunette's torso and rested it comfortably over her ribs. Her fingertips teased the underside of Regina's right breast while her mouth closed in on the woman's sex.

Regina gasped when Emma's breath tickled her glistening folds. Not long after that, she cried out in response to a hurried sweep of Emma's tongue over her clit. The brunette nearly thrashed against her the way she writhed beneath her.

"Stop teasing," Regina ground out through clenched teeth.

"Too much?"

"Not enough."

Emma grinned and started to lick earnestly at Regina's clit. She immediately felt the older woman quake.

Regina tightened her grip on Emma's hair and moaned repeatedly while her legs couldn't decide between clamping around the blonde's head and spreading wider to give Emma more access. In an embarrassingly short amount of time, Regina gasped and held her breath as she tensed.

"Em-ma!"

Right after the scream, Emma sucked the woman's clit into her mouth and flicked the tip of her tongue over the bundle of nerves. She slowed her licking pace, but it was the only reprieve she gave Regina as she continued to touch and kiss and suck at the most sensitive parts of the woman.

Emma started to rub her thumb back and forth over Regina's ribs while she built the brunette up toward another orgasm. She moaned against slick heat whenever Regina moaned, and she sighed happily every time Regina shuddered.

"I'm- Ung. _Emma_."

She felt Regina tense again and swiped her tongue lower through drenched folds. Regina groaned loudly and pulled blonde hair just hard enough to elicit a whimper before she plunged her tongue inside the other woman. That made Regina pull even harder.

"Fuck!" Regina canted her hips then. Her movements were less fluid than they'd been on the dancefloor, but no less sexy or precise.

Emma lapped up the evidence of Regina's first orgasm in between thrusts with her tongue. She went in as far as she could, which wasn't much, and released short moans for every taste of Regina she took.

"I need- more," Regina panted. "Deeper. Take me."

Emma whimpered and clenched her thighs together before she raised and wiggled her ass in the air to provide friction to her throbbing clit. Emma swiftly replaced her tongue with two fingers and thrust into the woman as requested.

Regina's mouth fell open in a silent moan and Emma immediately went to claim it. She slid up Regina's body while she put her weight behind her thrusts, using her hips to drive her deep into the woman, and then plunged her tongue into Regina's mouth the same way her fingers did with her cunt.

Hot breath puffed against Emma's face while they kissed and shared Regina's delectable taste. Nails raked down Emma's bicep as it flexed to maintain Emma's pace and balance. Regina let out little cries and drawn out moans between increasingly languid but heated kisses. Then, Emma pushed the heel of her palm against Regina's clit on every thrust and curled her fingers against a ribbed patch of flesh inside her.

Regina wrapped a leg around Emma's waist at the same moment. Her hand, still tangled in Emma's hair, gripped the back of Emma's neck before she started to chant single-syllable words and moans of encouragement and then turned her head to the side. She squeezed her eyes shut just as Emma felt Regina's inner walls clench around her fingers. Her entire body went stiff under Emma for a moment on the edge before Regina's hips seemed to instinctively rock throughout her second orgasm.

A squeak of a moan escaped Regina as the woman flooded Emma's hand. "Fuck," Emma exclaimed on an exhale. She pressed her forehead to Regina's temple and gradually slowed her pace to a stop just as Regina went slack. She slid her fingers out of Regina a moment later and licked one clean before Regina, still a little hazy as she recovered, grabbed her wrist and sucked the other. "Oh my god. You just keep getting hotter. It's not fair. But I love it."

"Just wait until I finally taste _your_ forbidden fruit," Regina purred as she let go of Emma's wrist and used her newly freed hand to draw patterns on Emma's side.

"How long have you been holding on to that one?"

"Mm, since I gave you my apple turnover?"

Emma groaned and dropped her head to Regina's shoulder. "We really should have slept together sooner. So much drama and tension could have been avoided."

"Yes, but then we wouldn't be here, would we?"

Regina started to play with her hair and Emma relaxed. She moaned and adjusted her position between Regina's legs, but it added friction to her thrumming body and her desire skyrocketed. Her breath hitched as she closed a fist around the bedsheets and tried to twist her lower body to lay on her side. Mid-twist, Regina seemed to understand the struggle and used her legs to urge Emma back into her previous position.

Emma groaned, but Regina made sure she didn't stay disappointed for long because the brunette slid further down the bed to better take a nipple into her mouth without any warning. Emma bit her bottom lip and immediately threaded her fingers in Regina's hair.

Regina caressed Emma's side and lower back with one hand before she squeezed a cheek and pulled Emma's hips closer while her other hand slipped between their bodies. The instant Regina parted her folds with a finger on either side of her clit, Emma jerked forward with a strangled moan. Regina followed up with another squeeze of her ass and Emma pushed down on the hand between her thighs.

"You know, if you _had_ fucked me when all you wanted to do was poison me, this definitely would have killed me. Still will," Emma breathlessly admitted.

Regina laughed against her breast before she bit down just a little. Emma squealed. Regina flicked her tongue over the stiff peak a couple times before she gave the other one equal attention, as if to show Emma what the blonde had done to her. She then cupped and stroked Emma's sex at a tortuously slow pace. When her fingers threatened to enter Emma, the blonde refused to let Regina move away and rolled her hips toward the brunette.

Emma felt two fingertips slide into her, but didn't penetrate her like she wanted. Regina even grinned as she kissed up and down her sternum and moved her hand up toward Emma's clit without ever touching it. "Now who's teasing?"

"Only fair," Regina hummed as her lips brushed against her heated skin.

Emma tried to protest that she'd waited longer for release while she got Regina off, but Regina seemed to have read her mind when she buried three fingers inside Emma. With a gasp and a rumbling moan, Emma tipped her head back and started to almost hesitantly ride Regina's fingers.

Regina matched her speed and met her halfway while she kissed a wet trail up Emma's neck. Between her pulse point and the spot below her ear, Emma didn't stand a chance as Regina kissed and sucked and bit to her heart's content.

Her hair clung to her neck due to the sheen of sweat she'd built up and thanks to Regina's hand pressed to her sticky skin, which trapped her dampening blonde hair between nimble fingers and Emma's wildly beating pulse.

Emma fisted the sheets for dear life with one hand and clawed at Regina's chest and the front of her shoulder with the other. She sucked in a deep breath when she felt herself flutter around Regina's fingers and heavily exhaled the instant her body tensed. A strangled moan, not far off from being a sob, tore through her as she drenched Regina's fingers and continued to ride them throughout her orgasm.

Regina didn't stop or slow down her thrusts until she shuddered and whispered a breathy, "okay" before she rolled onto her side next to the other woman. After that, she had a few seconds of recovery time before Regina rolled into her and nudged her with a hand on her hip until Emma fell onto her back. She had another chance to inhale before Regina grinned and then slid down her body.

"You don't have to," Emma breathlessly said.

"I want to," Regina replied, and then licked her lips as if she hadn't already destroyed Emma's ability to function. "I'd like to repay the favor. With a bit of…interest."

Regina purred the last word like a promise and a threat. Emma couldn't control the twitch of her legs or stutter of her next breath, and she definitely couldn't control the plethora of loud and carnal sounds she made as Regina showed off her spectacular oral skills.

Regina hummed, moaned, laughed against her and created pleasurable vibrations. The woman licked and flicked at just the right speed in just the right places, and that was before Regina even incorporated her teeth or sucked Emma's clit until the blonde almost lost consciousness.

Sweaty, sticky, sated and more vigorously worked out than she'd managed during her frequent workouts, Emma finally pushed Regina away long enough to calm her racing heart. She heard her blood pump in her ears for at least five minutes before she recuperated, even while Regina snuggled up to her and nibbled and kissed her neck.

"How am I supposed to do the whole 'cool down' phase if you keep trying to arouse me?" Emma smiled as she asked the question and lazily ran her fingers through Regina's hair.

Regina shifted beside her and chuckled, the sound warm and sensual and shiver-inducing. "Now why would you want to cool down when we're just getting started?"

Regina nipped Emma's earlobe like a playful cat, but quickly turned into a tiger as she lifted off the mattress and stretched like she was seconds away from pouncing on her prey. When she did, she teased Emma with more of the look-but-don't-touch teasing the blonde had been suffering through for weeks.

That night, Emma groaned out of frustration and impatience more than she'd done possibly ever in her life. But she also came more, loved harder and felt more alive than she ever had either. Hours later, when exhaustion took hold of them, Emma made a promise as she drifted off. "You and me. Forever. With the kid. I'm in."

Regina might have given a delayed response and Emma wasn't sure she understood it, but it sounded like, "Of course you do a half-assed proposal when you're half-asleep and haven't even said 'I love you' yet. Idiot."

And even though Emma couldn't be sure Regina had really said that, she still replied, "Yours" and snuggled Regina a little more just before sleep finally claimed her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note 1:** Well, this is the end. I didn't write this all in one go and didn't even get to proofread it all at once either, so I hope it's not disjointed.

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Panic seized Emma when she woke up in an empty bed. Her arm stretched across the space Regina should have been while Emma nosed the corner of a pillow that smelled like Regina's shampoo, but she opened her eyes and only saw ruffled sheets.

Emma sat up with a frown and pulled the covers over her bare breasts as vulnerability overwhelmed her. Just as she brought her knees to her chest, she heard indistinguishable sounds from the bathroom and hope surged through her. Relief followed less than a minute later when the slightly cracked door opened and Regina stepped into view. Emma released a breath she hadn't known she'd withheld and sagged against the headboard. She stretched her legs back out on the bed, no longer desperate to fold in on herself for comfort.

"You're still here," she breathlessly said with just a twinge of surprise and relief in her tone.

Dressed only in a loose-fitting pullover sweater and, by the very small strip of visible lace, a fresh pair of panties, Regina smiled at her with fondness and amusement in her warm eyes. "I do live here, remember?"

"I just meant—"

"I know what you meant," Regina quickly and softly replied as she walked over to the bed.

Without pity or hesitation or even pulling down the sheets Emma used to keep herself covered, Regina came back to the spot she'd vacated and slid in next to Emma. The brunette scooted close enough for their thighs to touch between the white linen and then slipped her hand beneath the top of the sheets.

Emma dipped her head to watch when Regina started to lazily trace various patterns on her sternum with a soft touch before Regina took it a step further and slowly pushed the sheets down to her waist. When Emma looked up at Regina again, the brunette had her plump bottom lip trapped between teeth that had left their mark in a few places previous night.

"You think next time we do this you might stay in bed long enough for me to wake up to you next to me?" She asked the question quietly, nervous that Regina felt differently about them in the light of day.

"Only if I don't desperately have to use the bathroom first," Regina said with a warm smile and intense eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Emma. I've been here for a while. I've been right where I needed to be."

Emma furrowed her brow and then felt Regina's fingers stop as the woman rested her palm over Emma's heart.

"I've been waiting for you," Regina finished explaining. "I would have waited forward, but I'm glad I didn't have to. We've both wasted enough time, haven't we?"

Emma nodded and tried to swallow, her throat suddenly dry at Regina's implications. "I…" she cleared her throat and tried again. "I need water." It wasn't what she'd wanted to say, but it was true.

Regina smiled and flicked her wrist. A cold bottle of water, probably fresh from the refrigerator, appeared in the brunette's hand. As Regina gave it to her, the older woman rested her head on Emma's shoulder and then resumed gliding her fingers over Emma's bare skin once she released her grip on the bottle.

Emma gasped at the feeling of cold fingertips pressed to her chest before Regina teasingly dragged them lower. They warmed up when Regina's fingers stopped where the sheet bunched at Emma's waist, but by then her nipples had already stiffened. She gulped down half the water in seconds and set it aside on the nightstand beside her just before Regina made her squirm with a strategic caress of her hipbone and upper thigh. She gasped again and then licked her lips before she looked into Regina's eyes again.

Regina slid her fingers across Emma's pelvis, near where the waistband of her panties would've been, had she been wearing any, and maintained eye contact while she did. With parted lips, Regina slowly leaned in and dropped her gaze to Emma's mouth. "I love you," Regina confessed against Emma's lips before initiating a soft kiss.

Emma melted into it, leaned into Regina until the brunette swayed backward as Emma slipped her tongue inside Regina's mouth and kissed her harder, hotter and with increasing desire. Reinga almost allowed her to lay her down on the bed before pushing back. When they sat up again, another swipe of Emma's tongue inspired Regina to lift onto her knees and swing a leg over Emma's lap.

Regina straddled her thighs and pressed her fingers to Emma's skin just below the blonde's jaw. Regina swept her fingers down Emma's neck as they continued to kiss and followed along the younger woman's pulse until she rested her hand on Emma's shoulder.

Emma raked her nails up Regina's bare thighs, under the hem of the brunette's sweater, felt Regina's moan against her lips while the vibration shot directly to her clit, and gripped Regna's hips. She felt heated skin and lace beneath her hands and moaned into the next kiss. She slid her fingers into the panties and squeezed Regina's ass, which earned her a roll of the woman's hips. She felt Regina's barely-concealed sex against her stomach and nipped Regina's bottom lip in response. Regina tipped her head back a bit, but Emma kept the lip between her teeth for a few seconds longer. When she released it, Regina exposed her neck and Emma didn't hesitate.

She slid one hand up Regina's back, under the sweater, while the other remained on Regina's ass. She kissed her way up Regina's neck until she could flick her tongue against the woman's earlobe and suck it into her mouth. Emma felt as well as heard Regina whimper while those heavenly hips rolled into her again.

Regina started a slow grind against her torso and tangled her fingers in Emma's hair with her free hand while the other remained on Emma's shoulder.

Emma pulled her hand out of Regina's panties and brought it to Regina's ribs. She started to run her hand up Regina's front and squeezed a breast beneath the sweater. The hand on Regina's back moved with the brunette when she arched into Emma and Emma skimmed her fingers over a nipple before she drew circles around it.

"Em-ma," Regina encouraged her with soft moan.

She slid her lips back down Regina's neck without kissing it, only touching, and almost buried her face in the crook before she replied, "I love you."

Regina moaned again and clawed at Emma's shoulder, tugged at Emma's hair and rocked her hips faster for friction that didn't seem to be enough.

"I love you so much," Emma said as she pulled away from Regina's neck to look in her eyes. She tweaked Regina's nipple as soon as she had the woman's attention and watched Regina's eyebrows crinkle from the sensation, but Regina kept her eyes open and focused on Emma.

Seconds later, Emma surged forward and crashed their lips together.

Regina whimpered into the kiss and threaded the hand previously on Emma's shoulder in blonde hair before the hand she'd had in it slid down Emma's arm. Regina grasped Emma's wrist, stopped rocking and guided the hand on her breast down to her panties. She eased Emma's hand inside and let go when Emma's fingers grazed her sex. She gripped the headboard then, rose a little higher on her knees and rolled her hips again to feel Emma's fingers slide over her.

Emma started to rub Regina with short and light movements that elicited frustrated groans from Regina before the younger woman pulled her hand out and received a growl in response. Emma grinned between kisses and playfully flicked her tongue against Regina's. She cupped Regina's sex over the panties and then started to rub her through the lace.

Regina whined and moved against Emma's hand at a cant.

Emma moved the hand on Regina's back to her side and pulled up the sweater to reveal more skin. When she exposed Regina's neglected breast, she trailed kisses along the underside and sucked on Regina's nipple with a few quick pulls of lips and occasional teeth.

Regina's breaths came out in quick and increasingly loud puffs.

Emma pulled Regina's panties to the side and slid a finger through her folds until she felt Regina's opening. She pulled back and brushed against the woman's clit before she moved back down and dipped a finger inside.

Regina breathlessly demanded, "More" and Emma pulled out only to ease in a second finger. The brunette moaned and started a slow grind again as she impaled herself on Emma's fingers.

Emma tipped her head back and locked eyes with Regina to see parted, kiss-swollen lips and love reflected at her in brown eyes. She maintained eye contact until Regina started to lean in and she lost focus.

Regina closed the distance between them as much as she could without them bumping noses or foreheads, her body curled inward, and sped up her pace.

Emma dropped her gaze to watch Regina ride her hand and moved her other hand away from Regina's breast to stroke her side a few times. The sweater fell and partially blocked Emma's view of the woman's movements, so she fisted the hem and pushed it up to Regina's chest again. She raked her nails down Regina's shoulder blade and the pullover slid down over her knuckles. Then, Regina groaned and sped up her pace again.

"Fuck," Emma exclaimed before she adjusted her position beneath Regina until she managed enough leverage to throw the brunette down on her back with their heads pointed to the foot of the bed. She pulled out, which earned her a growl from Regina, before she yanked off damp lace and tossed it aside. "What do you need?"

"You. All of you. Everything."

"Fuck!"

"Yes," Regina hissed in agreement and spread her legs wider.

That time, Emma groaned before she settled her hips between Regina's thighs again. She slammed one of Regina's hands against the bed beside partially fanned out brunette hair and intertwined their fingers before she thrust the same two fingers from seconds ago back inside.

Regina squeezed Emma's hand and the two of them worked to find their rhythm.

Emma put her weight behind each pump of her fingers and peppered open-mouth kisses along Regina's neck and chest. More often then not, her teeth scraped Regina's skin to Regina's apparent delight as indicated by the gasps and moans turned cries while her free hand left scratches on Emma's back.

"Three," Regina breathlessly said. "I can- Unh! Take three now."

Emma pulled back to see Regina's face when she asked, "You sure?"

Regina opened hooded eyes and smiled. "Yes."

Not one to deny Regina, she slowed her pace and carefully pressed a third finger inside on her next thrust. She watched Regina's lips part as the brunette gasped and then slowly pushed deeper.

Regina squeezed her eyes closed and gently rocked against Emma's hand.

When Regina opened her eyes after she took the added finger a few times, Emma held her gaze and followed by example. She maintained the pace Regina had set with the previous rock of her hips to give Regina time to adjust and when she felt less resistance from Regina's body, she gradually sped back up to the pace she'd kept with just two fingers.

"Yes. Yes!" Regina's eyes slipped closed and the brunette tipped her head back against the mattress. She groaned, moaned, whined and then Emma repositioned her thumb to brush against Regina's clit on every thrust. "Em- Yes. There. I—"

Regina squeezed Emma's hand again and bit her own bottom lip just as Emma started to swipe her thumb in hurried half-circles over her clit. Emma curled her fingers then and felt Regina's thighs twitch against her before the brunette moaned in crescendo and fluttered around her fingers. Emma latched onto her pulse point at that moment and sucked while she lavished the skin between her lips with her tongue.

"Em- Em-MA!"

She felt Regina's release and moaned against her lover's neck.

Regina clung to her with her nails embedded in Emma's back and a nearly bone-crushing grip on the hand that kept the brunette's pinned to the bed. Regina's chest heaved with her labored breathing and her nipples strained against the cotton of the pullover bunched unevenly just below her breasts.

Just as Emma gave her a moment to recover, they heard a crash and loud pounding followed by a yelled, "Regina! Sound. Proof! You're not the only one trying to shag!"

They stared at each other for several seconds, both surprised, before they erupted with laughter. Emma withdrew her fingers when their laughter started to subside and then smiled down at the brunette.

Regina smiled back and then pulled her in for a languid but all-consuming kiss. "Congratulations, Miss Swan. That's the loudest I've ever been."

"Damn. You just get hotter every day."

Regina's smile split open and the woman flashed her teeth. "Well, I'm certainly hotter than I was an hour ago," she said before she looked down at the sweater.

"Oh. I meant to take that off, but you were just… Then you said… And I just couldn't wait anymore."

Regina hummed and then arched beneath Emma to stretch. "And now?"

Emma sat back on her knees for a moment, pulled Regina up with her using their still joined hands and then peeled off the sweater. "Soundproofing spell. Now."

Regina smirked and flicked her wrist. A thin, purple barrier encompassed the room briefly before it became invisible.

They kissed for a while after that. Their hands roamed and teased while their tongues played and conquered until both were breathless and their bodies begged for more.

After leaving a few new hickeys on each other an undetermined amount of time later, Regina had two fingers inside Emma from where she remained on her back beneath the blonde. Both women were slick with sweat and Emma's breasts slid against Regina's as she rocked back on the older woman's fingers.

Regina ran her free hand through Emma's hair and pushed it back to keep it out of their faces.

Emma slid back on Regina's fingers a few more times before she couldn't resist throwing one of the other woman's legs over her shoulder. She then pressed that same hand into the mattress to hold herself up while she maneuvered the other between their bodies. With a few hard strokes, she matched her own pace against Regina's with two fingers on Regina's clit.

Regina moaned and let Emma's hair fall forward, brush against her sticky skin and then slipped her recently freed hand between Emma's legs.

Emma whimpered when Regina rubbed her clit with two fingers that the woman also used to frame and pinch the engorged bundle of nerves a few times. Her toes curled just as a moan escaped and her body jerked toward Regina. She lost her rhythm and felt less of Regina's fingers on and inside her, but Regina pumped into her harder to make up for it within seconds.

Regina's legs started to shake, but the brunette maintained her pace until Emma sent her over the edge with closed eyes, parted lips and a loud cry. Regina's fingers slowed on Emma's clit while she thrust erratically into Emma but steadied her pace with both hands when she opened her eyes.

Emma shuddered and almost fell onto Regina when she came a moment later. She felt herself gush and looked down between them as soon as she had the wherewithal to see she'd coated Regina's fingers and some had even made it into the woman's palm. "Wow. Mark that down as another first."

"Mm, I'll be happy to make that a regular occurrence."

Emma stared at her with unabashed adoration before she repeated her sentiment from the previous night. "So fucking lucky."

Regina winked and then brought her hand to her mouth. She grinned around her fingers as she very slowly sucked them clean.

Emma barely waited for Regina to remove them before she crashed their lips together and delved her tongue inside to share her taste. When Reinga let out a pained sound and turned away from the kiss shortly after it began, Emma pulled back and realized she still had Reinga's leg over her shoulder.

"Sorry!" She slid Regina's leg off her and massaged the woman's upper thigh near her groin.

"Thank you," Regina smiled and brushed a thumb along Emma's cheekbone a few times.

Emma dopily smiled back and then rested her forehead on Regina's shoulder as she continued to massage the woman's thigh.

Regina started to run her hand through Emma's hair a few times before she conjured a hair tie, as Emma figured out from the tingle of familiar magic in the air, and gently pulled it into a slightly tangled ponytail.

Emma kissed her shoulder in response and then felt Regina's fingers dance along her spine beneath her ponytail. She took a deep breath and contentedly hummed. They stayed like that for a while, quietly basking in the afterglow, until the smell of multiple breakfast foods and strong coffee prompted Emma's stomach to growl.

"Guess I worked up an appetite," Emma said with a hint of a laugh as she rolled off Regina and occupied the space beside her.

"Indeed. You need to keep your strength up if you plan on continuing this later anyway."

"Oh my god. You're insatiable."

"I'll wear you out within the week," Regina purred. "How do you feel about toys?"

Emma's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed onto her back with groan. "Forget a week. I won't make it another twenty-four hours."

Regina hummed again before Emma felt the woman shift on the bed. She looked over in plenty of time to see Regina on her stomach with her cheek pressed against the mattress and her ass in the air. She gulped and watched with another bout of dry mouth as Regina wiggled her ass and arched her back in a cat-like stretch. When she locked onto Regina's eyes, she noticed Regina had been watching her watch the brunette and Regina smirked.

"You're the worst," Emma said.

"Need I remind you, my dear, you have no idea what I'm capable of," Regina purred before she rolled her hips and stretched more, her ass even higher in the air and twice as distracting.

"I think over four years of experience and the bite marks and scratches I gained in the last twelve hours prove that I do," Emma relied, and rolled off the bed. She stretched where she stood, made a few noises of pain and pleasure of varying degrees the more she loosened up and then saw Regina laying on her side with a very appreciative and lingering gaze.

"Yes, you'd do well to wear long sleeves today. A turtleneck, perhaps."

Emma laughed at the smugness in Regina's tone. She showed Regina's body the same visual appreciation and then grabbed Regina's discarded pullover off the floor. "I could say the same about you, your Majesty."

"Oh, don't tease me like that," Regina moaned while she pushed a hand down her body and stopped it just above her sex.

Emma arched a brow and said, "Should have guessed you'd be into that. You gonna dress up for me?"

"Maybe with some incentive. I have some wardrobe choices in mind for you, too. A few involve little more than that hideous jacket of yours."

"If it's so hideous, why is it part of one of your fantasies?"

Regina shrugged with one shoulder and started to lazily move her fingers between her legs. "Nostalgia."

"Mm. Okay," Emma said with a smile and slipped into Regina's sweater before she knelt on one knee on the bed. "We'll go with that for now." She leaned over and kissed Regina, a sweet peck not meant to stimulate but still convey feeling. As she pulled away, she grabbed Regina's playful hand and brought it to her mouth to kiss the woman's knuckles before she gently tugged Regina into a sitting position. "Come on. I need food, especially because you expect me to keep up with you."

Regina chuckled as Emma helped her onto her feet. "You took the shirt off my back, my love. What am I supposed to wear?"

"A smile and your dazzling personality?" Emma cheekily grinned. "Please, Regina. You have a massive closet full of options. Take your pick and come downstairs so we can ask Zelena inappropriate questions about _her_ sex life to even the score."

"Oh, no. We are _not_ doing that. No. She would happily share all the sordid details and I don't want or need those visuals. Do you?"

Emma almost snorted. "True, but I doubt she'd do that to her bed buddy. At least, not if she's still here."

"She? What woman in their right mind is bold enough to sleep with my sister?"

Mulan blushed and kept her distance when Emma and Regina joined the small but surprising crowd gathered in the kitchen five minutes later.

Regina stared at the warrior with an obvious grin the brunette either didn't want to or just couldn't contain and earned some light elbowing to her side from Emma every few minutes along with the reminder to "behave" whispered in her ear.

"Tell that to your father," Regina responded after Emma had told her for a third time. "If he stares at me or sizes me up one more time, I'm going to think the entire Charming family wants to sleep with me."

"Ew. No. It's bad enough my mom has some kind of weird crush on you."

Regina hummed and added, "And her darling daughter has a deliciously filthy mouth and was three fingers deep in her former arch-nemesis less than an hour ago."

Emma's breath hitched when Regina melded herself to Emma's back and shamelessly started to grope her from the hem of her borrowed sweater up to her breasts. When Regina's chin came to rest on her shoulder a few seconds later, Emma laughed and pushed Regina's grabby hands away as she said, "Not in front of guests."

"Family," Regina corrected.

Emma looked over her shoulder, which forced Regina to pull back so they could properly make eye contact, and smiled.

Regina winked at her and then fully retracted her hands before she grabbed the dishtowel that hung off the oven door handle and snapped it against Emma's ass.

Emma yelped only seconds before Zelena announced her entrance with, "Did you two really not get enough between last night and tonight? People eat in here, you know."

"Good morning, Zelena," Emma greeted with a heavy amount of sarcasm.

"It's my kitchen," Regina pointed out. "Anyone who has a problem with me displaying affection can go back to their own _rent-free_ room."

"I'm trying to be respectful of our visitors for once."

"Is that why you're wearing the shortest silk robe I've ever seen?"

"At least I'm not screaming to the whole house about the Savior first thing in the morning."

"Sorry if I made you jealous, Sis," Regina dryly retorted.

"Repulsed is more like it. I don't need to know how good Emma gives it to you."

Regina opened her mouth to fire off another comeback, and by the gleam in her eyes Emma assumed the brunette was about to praise her skills, when David interrupted with, "There are children nearby and a very uncomfortable father in the room."

"Uncomfortable? I'd have thought you'd be proud after this morning," Zelena smirked.

"What happened this morning," Snow asked.

All eyes whipped to the pixie-haired woman with a bright and oblivious smile on her face as she stopped just inside the entryway with Baby Neal on her hip. Henry hesitated beside her with Robyn in his arms and a confused and curious look on his face before he took a few more steps into the kitchen.

Zelena made her way toward him, brushed a hand across Mulan's back, met her nephew halfway and scooped up her daughter.

"You really don't want to know," David said as he glanced at Emma and then averted his eyes.

"What the hell?" Emma quickly looked to Regina, the one responsible for the sudden outburst, who stared into the trashcan with a displeased expression. "Why is one of my mixing bowls in the garbage?"

David turned bright red and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh my god," Emma grumbled with dawning realization. "The crash we heard earlier."

"So, that's why you were staring at us just now," Regina stated. "Well, I still expect you to pay for another bowl."

"You were staring at my moms," Henry asked.

"Isn't my pain and suffering enough payment," David asked Regina and seemingly ignored Henry.

Regina grinned every bit like the Queen.

Until Zelena took it upon herself to answer Henry's question. "His little girl hit a home run. Multiple, it seems."

Henry crinkled his face and begged, "Please stop before I know too much."

"Yes, please," Regina agreed with a hard glare directed at her sister.

"I think it's too late for that," Emma sympathetically grimaced.

"The goal is _minimal_ scarring," Henry informed her.

"How's that working out," Emma asked.

Henry's face scrunched up even more.

"That's what I thought," Emma said more to herself, but just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why would baseball scar Henry?" Snow looked as lost as she sounded and almost prompted Zelena to spell it out for the woman when, shockingly, Mulan swooped in and clamped a hand over the redhead's mouth.

"Sometimes her abrasiveness is endearing," Mulan said a little breathlessly, kind of embarrassed but clearly still interested enough in the other woman to finally involve herself in the mess. "And other times, like now," she mostly told Zelena, "it's too much."

"We know," Regina grumbled.

"We're working on it," Mulan promised the brunette with a smile. An actual smile. Emma couldn't remember ever seeing Mulan smile unless the woman did it out of nervousness.

Emma watched as Regina cocked her head to the side and smiled back, proudly. She recognized the look in Regina's eyes as respect and admiration.

"Good," Regina said after a moment. "Well, if everyone's done talking about earlier this morning, maybe we can get back to whatever breakfast some of you had planned for right about now?"

"Breakfast! Yes," David quickly responded.

"I'm starving," Emma chimed in, always ready to eat and to go along with Regina.

Most of the group went into the dining room while the others pulled the food out of the oven and toaster. Emma carried a large plate of all the toast into the dining room while Regina brought out the breakfast casserole David had made. David followed behind them with the butter, syrup and, for Henry's odd tastes, ketchup.

As they walked in, Mulan and Snow were almost finished setting the table. Zelena fussed over Robyn, who wouldn't sit still in her highchair near the head of the table, and Henry struggled to clip Neal into his booster seat. Emma chuckled, amused and so glad she wasn't either one of them, and then felt Regina gently grip her bicep.

Regina smiled at her and Emma couldn't help but smile back, big and dopey and in love. "I like that look on you," Regina quietly confessed.

"Yeah, it's good," Emma agreed. "But it looks better on you."

"My sister straps one on for you?" Zelena looked scandalized and immensely interested. She looked pained a few seconds later when Mulan smacked her arm. "Ouch. You're supposed to save that for the bedroom, darling."

"More than minimally scarred now," Henry said.

"We didn't use one!" Emma said that much louder than she'd intended before everything went awkwardly quiet.

"This is what happens when you keep pushing," Mulan told the redhead. "Back off them for just one meal."

"And if I can't?"

"If you _don't_ , you won't see me for a week."

Zelena pouted, but Mulan held firm and even arched a brow. Zelena exaggeratedly sighed and admitted defeat. "Fine. Fine! I'll be... _good_." The older Mills said the word like it didn't taste right. Considering that Zelena teased them so inappropriately, it probably hadn't been pleasant.

"We're doing this family style, everyone," Regina said a moment later. "Serve yourselves."

David and Snow smiled at Regina and then sat with Neal between the two of them on one side of the table. Henry sat at one end of the table, adjacent to Robyn, while Mulan and Zelena sat side-by-side across from David and Snow. They all seemed to naturally find their place amongst each other, but Emma struggled as she watched Regina easily slide into the chair at the opposite end of table from Henry.

Always seeming to be the odd one out, Emma stared at the tiny spots available between either her mother and Regina or Regina and Mulan. Next to her mother was the obvious choice, but she worried that Neal would garner more attention—as he should—and leave her huddled up in the corner on the outside of it all. Same went with sitting next to Mulan, who clicked with Zelena and Robyn like they were already a family themselves.

Regina cleared her throat just as Emma's thoughts started to spiral and the familiar desire to run threatened the happy occasion. Regina scooted her chair closer to Mulan and then waved her hand. Within seconds, purple smoke cleared to reveal another chair that Regina didn't hesitate to pat. "Sit. You're making me anxious."

The brunette barely even looked at Emma after commanding her, which wasn't unusual, but the effortless way she made Emma feel wanted and welcome and home brought tears to Emma's eyes as she took her place next to Regina. While the others reached into the center of the table to do as directed and serve themselves, Emma looked from Regina down to the other end of the table at their son. She smiled a wobbly smile and caught Henry's attention. His brow furrowed, and she recognized that the scrunched look on his face silently asked, "Are you okay?" Emma nodded, and her smile reflexively widened when she kept thinking _mine_ and _ours_ and _belong_.

Emma turned to Regina and rested a hand on her thigh. She waited until Regina stilled and gave her full attention before the blonde said, "You're stuck with me now, Madam Mayor."

Regina knit her brows before she decided to play along and asked in a cocky, breezy tone, "Am I?"

"Yeah, 'cause there's no way I'm giving any of this up." Emma took a deep breath, ended up sniffling a little and then said, "I love you so much." She had barely finished her sentence before she pressed her lips to Regina's in front of everyone. The clanking of silverware stopped almost as soon as they made contact, but Emma didn't really notice. She just kept kissing Regina softly and sweetly and smiled in between a few kisses until her nose felt stuffy from the elated tears she almost cried. She only pulled away when she could hardly breathe, which was also when everyone else seemed to collectively sigh with audible relief.

"I was starting to think Neal would hit puberty before you admitted it," Snow confessed.

Emma's eyes popped wide open as she stared disbelievingly at her mother. "You knew how I felt?"

Snow looked around the table with confusion. "I thought it was obvious."

Regina laughed. "To everyone but Emma."

Emma set her elbow on the table with a heavy thud and rested her head in her hand. "Seriously? Well, did anyone know Regina loves me back?"

"Since bloody Camelot," Zelena said with no small amount of exasperation.

Snow and David nodded and hummed their agreement.

Henry, on the other hand, answered differently. "Since Rumple brought the Queens of Darkness to town."

"You've known since then?" Emma looked to see Regina stare at Henry with as much shock as the blonde had shown her own mother.

Henry smirked and said, "That's when you started taking turns fighting for each other. And with each other. You haven't stopped since then. Don't tell me I'm the only one who noticed."

Emma caught movement out of the corner of her eye and noticed Mulan grinning as she ducked her head. She had to ask, "Did _you_ know?"

"I don't know that it was obvious then, but things had certainly changed since I first met you and Snow in the Enchanted Forest," Mulan replied.

"The important thing is, you both feel it and now Emma's said it," Henry said.

"Oh, we've both said it, sweetheart," Regina corrected.

Emma beamed bright enough to rival the sun as she replayed that moment in her head.

"You said it just this morning, didn't you?" Zelena asked with a wicked grin and knowing tone.

Mulan kicked her under the table and made the redhead hiss in pain.

"Okay. Good. Great. You both said it and you both feel it and we don't have to talk about this morning ever again," David quickly said. "Let's eat before I lose my appetite."

"Wait," Snow suddenly jumped in. "Breaking a bowl, Zelena teasing Emma and Regina like they did something embarrassing and the two of them saying 'I love you' for the first time? How would that make you lose your—Oh! They- _Oh_!"

Zelena immediately cracked up and Mulan, surprisingly, joined her that time. David blushed while Henry quickly focused solely on his breakfast. Robyn clapped and giggled with Zelena and Snow actually forced herself to look at Emma and Regina after she'd struggled to do so for more than a few seconds.

"That's… Congratulations," Snow awkwardly said with big but equally awkward smile.

"Oh. My. _God_." Emma groaned and finally released Regina's thigh as she covered her face with both hands.

And for all the luck and love she felt, Regina still just had to be a smartass and remind her, "She's _your_ mother."

Emma almost admitted defeat, but then she remembered, "And you _chose_ this family." She dropped her hands onto the table and turned to see Regina's expression sour. Emma started to laugh until her earlier doubt crept in and she started to worry until—

"As unfortunate as that can be for me at times, I wouldn't change it for anything."

Emma brightened at that admission. "Yeah?"

Regina smiled back. "No regrets, remember? I meant it when I said it in Neverland and I still mean it now. I love you, too. …But if I don't eat in the next two minutes, our first official date night will be postponed."

"Married," Zelena said in a slightly sing-song voice.

Emma agreed to the terms with one last, lingering kiss and whispered, "We did it" before everyone went on to enjoy breakfast as a family. And just before Regina started in on her plate, the smart, complex, hot, loving, all-around amazing woman Emma loved with all her heart quietly replied, "Yes, we did."

* * *

 **Note 2:** Thanks so much for those that stuck with me for the updates. For those that waited until complete, thanks for binge-reading. ;)


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